Challenging the Past for Reality
by Miz636andPercabeth777
Summary: "The problem is a minor god," he explained slowly, "a being daring enough to attempt threatening Olympus. […] This god is after a weapon, a tool powerful enough to embody the strongest of our godly weapons." A quest takes five demigods on a path they never expected to take, forcing them to face things they couldn't bring themselves to face before. Post-TLO. Alternating POVs.
1. Chapter 1

**Hey all! Welcome to the first multi-chapter, co-written story between Miz636 and Percabeth777! We've done one-shots together, but this is our first story with multiple chapters, and we have a lot in store for you! Before we get started, there are a few things we need to tell you.**

**First of all, this is Post-TLO but doesn't involve Heroes of Olympus. This happens before TLH, so none of that is included in this, except small mentions of Jason. **

**Second, Percabeth777 writes everything that's in Percy's point of view, while Miz636 writes in Thalia's.**

**Third, we've agreed to take turns in writing the review replies, but there will be times we might both want to reply to a specific review. If you happen to get two replies from this account, it's because we've both decided we wanted to reply to your awesome reviews. We'll be sure to label who wrote the reply at the end of every single one of them so that you'll know.**

**Go on, enjoy our story, and please review!**

**Disclaimer: We don't own Percy Jackson and the Olympians; it belongs to Rick Riordan.**

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**…Percy…**

"Hey, Percy!" a muffled voice shouted out from behind a crowd of students.

The sounds of slamming lockers and loud chatter filled the school hallways as school let out. I turned in the direction of the voice, seeing one of my friends raising a hand to me. I returned the gesture, suddenly reminded of the promises I had made for plans over the weekend.

Pulling my backpack over one shoulder, I made my way out the doors of Goode High School, down the steps, and into the city.

The sun beat down on the earth as I walked on the Manhattan pavement towards my apartment building. Home was right around the corner, and it was the only thing I needed after a long day of taking a lousy test at school.

"_Perseus Jackson."_

Even in the heat, a cold shiver seemed to be crawling up my spine. For some reason, my mind seemed to flash back to the bitter images of the war that we had fought, right on the streets I was walking on, just a few weeks ago. It wasn't easy recovering from everything we had been through, but knowing that it was all over now was like a comforting Band-Aid right on top of the scar.

I took a deep breath, shaking my thoughts from the strange memory. Although I knew it was always at the back of my mind - all the pain, the deaths, the losses - I reminded myself that we had won. That was enough to bury the thoughts away, at least temporarily.

I felt goose bumps prick down the back of my neck like little needles as I felt cold eyes on me in the warm sun.

As I walked through a vacant alley, I told myself that, in just a few minutes, I'd be in an air conditioned room, plopped down on the couch.

"_Perseus Jackson!" _A firm voice seemed to echo through my head, and I stopped dead in my tracks when I saw what was in front of me.

Now, any guy can relate to the fact that it's a little nerve racking running into your girlfriend's parent in a random situation. But nothing could compare to the way my blood seemed to freeze in my veins when I saw Athena.

Athena's godly image shimmered in front of me through the mist. Her impatient and threatening glare seemed to subside slowly as I acknowledged the Iris Message.

"Lady Athena -" I stuttered, unsure of whether to bow or lower my gaze. It wasn't every day that the goddess who wasn't impressed with her daughter's choice for a boyfriend would take time to drop calls to demigods.

Athena's posture was stiffer than ever as she spoke. "You are needed at Olympus immediately," she informed me.

I blinked, still not fully recovered from my sudden encounter with the goddess. "You mean, like, right now?" I asked stupidly.

Athena barely let a flicker of irritation appear on her face as she calmly raised her hand, ignoring me. I thought she might have been ready to finally blow my head off once and for all, but instead, she put her fingers together. With one snap, the Iris Message seemed to blur. Wind began blowing, whisking in a roar of quiet whispers as it circled all around me. I didn't realize it when I was lifted off the ground and launched into the air, being carried all the way to Olympus through the wind.

I didn't remember anything else except feeling a harsh force as I crashed onto a floor, before everything was silent and still. I opened my eyes slowly, realizing I was millions of feet up above where I had been, in the home of the gods.

"Wind traveling," a familiar voice spoke. I looked up to see Annabeth smiling slightly. "One of my mother's specialties," she recalled.

I tried not to complain as the feeling starting coming back to my legs again. "Could have done better with the landing," I mumbled.

Annabeth reached forward, and I took her hand as she helped me up.

As I collected myself, my senses slowly began returning. I realized that Annabeth had a small smudge on her cheek and that stands of hair were falling out of her pony tail because she had been working so hard. Although she was staying in the Manhattan area, she seemed to spend more time up at Olympus redesigning it after the damages caused from the battle than she did down on earth with me. I hadn't seen her in a couple of days, and my first instinct was to hug her before I realized exactly what was going on around us. It was something much bigger than I had imagined.

In the distance of the enormous room, all twelve gods sat together, occupying their own thrones. A numbness was rising underneath my skin, sort of like a bad feeling.

"What's going on?" I whispered to Annabeth.

"They wouldn't tell me until you got here," Annabeth whispered back, equally as nervous. "I've been watching them argue for a while now, but I think Zeus and Poseidon finally agreed on something."

My eyes focused on my father and then all the other the powerful gods around him. Seeing Poseidon and Zeus on their thrones made me flash back to a moment not long ago after the war. The gods had offered me immortality, and I had turned them down. My stomach seemed to turn, knowing that something serious was going on. The only other time I had seen the gods all together aside from the after-war reunion was during the Council of the gods the winter solstice before our quest into the Labyrinth.

Feeling the presence of the all the gods in one place - Ares, Hermes, Hephaestus, Poseidon, Aphrodite, Athena, Artemis, Apollo, Dionysus, Demeter, Hera, and Zeus - was uneasy as it was, but a thick tension could undoubtedly be felt in the air, making things even worse.

The gods hardly seemed to even realize that I had crash landed, courtesy of Athena, onto the floor just a second ago. Zeus was speaking when Annabeth motioned at me to follow her.

As we approached, the gods noticed us in the room for the first time.

"Stand," my father said as we kneeled in respect for the council of gods. "We're glad you two are here," Poseidon said gently, although the normal easiness on his face was absent.

Next to my dad, Zeus stirred on his throne. It was clear that he wasn't going to waste any time before he got to the point. Neither one of us knew what was coming when the lord of the sky spoke. The ground seemed to rumble as Zeus said, "We have a quest; a journey to save Olympus."

"To _save_ Olympus?" Annabeth's said incredulously, her eyes wider than ever. "A quest – but-but we just fought a war! Olympus can't possibly be in danger again… it's impossible."

"I know, child," Athena said from her throne. "It has been quite an alarm to us all."

"But _how_?" Annabeth argued.

Zeus' eyes seemed to be piercing right through me. I couldn't have spoken even if I wanted to.

Poseidon sighed, gripping his trident as he leaned forward. "I don't believe there's any use in putting it off anymore. The problem is a minor god," he explained slowly, "a being daring enough to attempt threatening Olympus."

"How?" I asked, but my voice seemed to fade away in a whisper.

The other gods listened tensely as Poseidon continued, choosing his words carefully as he spoke. "This god is after a _weapon_, a tool powerful enough to embody the strongest of our godly weapons."

"It is a forbidden tool," Zeus added. "The secret could only have gotten out in the most unimaginable way possible. However, if this minor god continues to search through all the sites where Olympus previously once stood, it _can_ be found."

The gods' words seemed to be passing right through me before I was able to grasp them. Finally, the thought of Olympus in danger processed through my brain, making me step forward. "What can we do about it?"

"We have a quest," Zeus repeated his very first words to us, his tone unchanged. "This journey to save Olympus can only be completed by the strongest. We ask you, Percy Jackson and Annabeth Chase. Do you accept?"

I felt like my mind was clouded with a million thoughts roaming through it. Everything was happening way too fast. I could sense Annabeth's eyes on me as the attention of the room shifted to me. The gods had been speaking in limited words, barely telling us anything, and I suddenly felt a flicker of agitation.

It had barely only been a month since the war, and just when we thought we would get one _normal_ school year, Olympus was being taken over. I felt myself angry at the fates, angry at the minor god for causing this.

I glanced over at Annabeth, whose eyes hadn't left my face. A determined look filled gray eyes, and I was suddenly reminded of what was truly going on. There were much bigger problems than not getting the normal life I wanted. Olympus was in danger.

Annabeth swallowed, her gaze still confident. A silent understanding seemed to pass between us, and after I felt like I had her consent, I found myself turning back towards the gods.

I knew I would never have enough time to truly think through this decision. It was clear that Annabeth and I weren't going to get a chance to talk and maybe not even another second to continue thinking. I wanted to take a shake my head and say _whoa, back up for a second._ But the gods clearly demanded their answer now, and I had a feeling that they had already delayed news of this disaster as much as they could. Time was on the line as we stood right there on Olympus speaking, and the temperature in the air was rising.

Not knowing what I was getting us into, I did the only thing I knew was right. "We accept."

The room didn't feel any different. Zeus relaxed his glare on me, leaning back. "Very well, it has been decided then. Percy Jackson, son of Poseidon, and Annabeth Chase, daughter of Athena, will take part in a quest to protect Olympus from the hands of a new enemy. It is your decision to choose who and how many can accompany you."

Further down the row of thrones, Ares was glaring at me. I could almost hear his voice in my head saying _you'd better make the right decisions, punk. _Aphrodite silently snapped her fingers in front of Ares face, and the flames in the gods eyes recoiled ever so slightly.

Hera was so stiff that I could have sworn she was frozen. The goddess' cold gaze clearly avoided looking at Annabeth. For the first time, I realized that the gods truly needed us now. We could be Olympus' last hope.

Lady Artemis rose, nodding once in our direction. "You have my huntresses at your aid if this effort may need them. Our services are with you."

Annabeth bowed in respect of the goddess. "Thank you, my lady."

There was suddenly an eerie silence to the room. Being pulled off of the earth after a day at school and accepting to save Mount Olympus from the wrath of a minor god wasn't exactly easy to take in. A strange itch was scratching at me.

"Just one question," I found myself saying.

Poseidon looked at me curiously. "What is it, child?"

"This minor god," I said slowly, "who is it?"

My father shared a look with Zeus before answering me. The name wasn't one I expected, and I was sure Annabeth shared my confusion as she frowned at the name.

**…Thalia…**

I couldn't admit to knowing why Lady Artemis was called away, but it didn't really worry me that she had gone to Olympus so suddenly. She had done this quite often during the war for councils and the actual fights. Besides, she knew I could handle the Hunters on my own.

The sound of bickering broke my thoughts, and I sighed audibly, the sound quickly dissipating in my empty tent, where I had been laying on my sleeping bag and staring at the canvas above me.

Sitting up, I stood quickly and made my way out of my tent, headed towards where the familiar voices were coming from.

A group of girls stood around two others, almost blocking them from my view. Truthfully, though, I didn't need visual confirmation to know who I was about to be dealing with.

"What set them off this time?" I asked the Hunter next to where I had stopped on the outside of the circle, Janet, a girl who looked to be twelve. Green eyes met mine quickly, a startled look in them before Janet recognized me and relaxed slightly, turning back to face the two girls standing opposite each other.

"Kristen claimed she was better at everything compared to Elaine, especially with a bow," Janet explained quickly. "Elaine got upset and retorted, again. Then it just went downhill from there."

Sighing internally, unwilling to show my annoyance at the continued rivalry between the daughter of Athena and mortal who both had a talent with our wolves and hunting falcons, I said, "Thanks, Janet. Let me through, please."

The black-haired girl moved aside quickly, leaving a path just large enough for me to walk through to get to the fighting pair. The sight in front of me was quite familiar and also very old, even after just three months of it.

Gray eyes with a brown tinge to them were flared with anger as they locked onto brown eyes that appeared almost black. Elaine, a daughter of Athena who had already been a Hunter before I joined, was almost shaking with fury as she tried to control the urge to lunge at Kristen, who had only joined us three months ago as Lady Artemis had asked me to search for new Hunters for the upcoming battle that had already passed. Neither had gotten along very well, not even the first time they met, and it only got worse when Kristen showed an aptitude for our animals just as Elaine had for years.

"Elaine! Kristen!" I snapped, stepping forward with my arms outstretched to stand between them. "Stop your fighting right _now_!"

"Kristen started it this time, Thalia," Elaine stated as she crossed her arms over her chest and took a step back, gray eyes still flashing.

"So I've been told," I said coldly, turning my head from Elaine to Kristen, who took a step back at my fury, the glare in her dark eyes disappearing as she saw my look. "Kristen, my tent, _now._"

Kristen took off quickly, slipping out of the circle of Hunters in the direction I had come from. Elaine was left smirking proudly at having won the fight, but I just turned my eyes to land on her, and her arms fell from her chest as she stepped back quickly, some fear in her eyes.

"The rest of you, get back to your tents or wherever you're supposed to be," I snapped, not once looking away from Elaine as I heard the others rush away, most to their tents and a few back to the watch they were supposed to be on.

"Elaine, you've been here longer than most of the Hunters since the war happened and we lost more of the eldest than ever before," I said, my anger evident but in check. "You _know_ better than to be picking fights with Kristen! Just because you're upset that Juliet died doesn't mean you have a right to pick a fight on the only other girl who has a talent with our animals."

My tone had calmed more as I spoke of one of the Hunters who had died in the Battle of Manhattan. Juliet had appeared to be only thirteen, but I knew she and Elaine had been found together over a hundred years ago, best friends then and now. While Juliet had been mortal, Elaine had seen that she had clear sight and decided to use her training from Chiron to protect her, so Juliet's death only a month ago had hit her quite hard, and we all still felt the effects of it when she got upset. Still, it didn't give her a right to fight with Kristen like she had been since the war, which was a lot fiercer than the banter they had shared before it.

"I know, Thalia, and I'm sorry," Elaine said softly, tears coming to her eyes as she looked towards the ground. "It's just been so… hard since the war without Juliet, and…" Elaine broke off with a sob, and I stepped forward to hug her. No matter how upset I was with her, she was still my sister Hunter, and I would be there for her.

"I'm sorry I brought it up, but Juliet wouldn't want you to be doing this," I whispered in her ear as I rubbed her back. "We're all still hurting from the death among us, you among those hurting the most, but we can't keep fighting like this because of it. None of them would want it, and it isn't good for us. Soon enough you'll find your way again and be stronger for it, but for now, we're all here for you when you need us. Don't forget it, Elaine."

Elaine pulled away from me slowly and wiped away her tears with the back of her hand. Her eyes were slightly bloodshot and puffy, and there was a darkness in her gray-brown eyes that showed her pain, but I could tell Elaine would be okay for now.

"Thanks, Thalia," she said, her voice a little hoarse. "I'll remember that and try to stop." I just smiled sadly at her.

"Why don't you go see if Jessica would be willing to work on archery with you?" I suggested. "Maybe bring in a few of the others for a contest. I've got to go talk to Kristen."

"I'll do that," Elaine said, her lips twitching, and I knew I had done my job. "Don't be too hard on her, Thalia," Elaine added before turning and going back to camp.

Once I was alone, I looked up at the clouds above me, thinking even though I knew I had to go talk to Kristen soon.

Elaine's last words made sense. Kristen's younger sister Rebecca, who had been almost a younger clone of her, had been a Hunter who died in the war as well. Ever since then, Kristen had been trying to pick fights with the others as the pain got to be too much. Elaine, unfortunately, was hurting just as much and fought back almost every time, setting them off into larger fights.

While it didn't excuse Kristen just as it didn't excuse Elaine, I knew both were hurting more than almost any of my sisters. It meant I would have to talk with Kristen as I had Elaine just now, exactly as I had over the past few weeks to all of the Hunters. Hopefully it would help cut down the fights if I went a bit harder on Kristen until she broke down, letting out the pain and allowing someone to comfort her as no one had been allowed the chance to do.

Sighing deeply, I closed my eyes with the sun on my face, warming it.

It was so hard to deal with this at times. As second-in-command to Lady Artemis, her lieutenant, I hadn't had the chance since the Battle of Manhattan to truly get over the war, instead pushing aside my emotions to help my sisters get over their own pain.

I had lost so much during that battle – my sister Hunters, _Luke_… – yet I pretended I felt nothing. If I couldn't be strong, how could I ask my Hunters to be?

Shaking my head, I opened my eyes and turned back to the camp. I had to deal with Kristen, and that required control over myself.

Fiercely pushing aside all emotions, I took a deep breath and headed back to my tent, ready to tell off Kristen and then comfort her as she finally, truly broke down.


	2. Chapter 2

**…Percy…**

It wasn't easy walking away from the gods, feeling the burden of a vital quest on our shoulders. Annabeth stared ahead, completely silent, and I wasn't sure who felt it worse between the two of us.

Before either of our minds had time to truly make sense of what had just happened in the past twenty minutes, there was a godly presence behind us that I knew all too well from this afternoon.

Annabeth spun around, her gray eyes widening. "Mother?"

Athena gracefully stood before us, her face just as stern as before. The goddess appeared to be staring both of us directly in the eyes as she spoke. "There is more you should be aware of in order to truly be efficient in this task," Athena warned. "You _must_ be successful if we are to see Olympus last."

I swallowed as the goddess' eyes sparked a low flame, her face still emotionless.

"You are to choose your companions wisely. Do not take Zeus' words lightly," Athena continued. "Only the strongest can manage to complete this journey. Each member's role in this quest will prove to be critical."

Annabeth nodded, taking the goddess' advice as words of wisdom. "Is there anything else?" Annabeth inquired. "Anything we can do to fight our enemy?"

"You will be traveling closely behind the trail of this minor god," Athena reminded us. "At each destination, there will be a piece - a type of _artifact_ being hosted at a special location - of an essential item. Once put together, this tool may be strong enough to withhold even the magic of our enemy."

I secretly hoped that Annabeth understood exactly what Athena was telling us, because the information seemed to fly right past me. We had just found out that a minor god was trying to take over Olympus, and if knowing that we had to find a way to stop her wasn't enough, here Athena was giving us instruction to finding an artifact in every place we went to serve as a tool for us later on.

I zoned back in, hearing Athena addressing Annabeth. The flame in the goddess eyes seemed to be extinguished with ice as she acknowledged her daughter. "All your work in progress on the arcs will be left undisturbed until you return," Athena assured her. "I trust in you to guide this quest towards victory."

Annabeth bowed awkwardly, giving her gratitude to the goddess. "I'll do everything in my power."

I didn't realize that my throat had gone dry until I tried to speak. "We need to get to the camp," I said, recognizing the urgency of the quest for the first time.

Athena barely seemed to glance at me before she snapped her fingers. Before I had time to grasp what was happening, wind lifted us off the floors of Olympus and carried us into the air until we were surrounded by a whirlpool of currents.

I landed flat on my butt for the second time that day, right onto the grounds of camp. Annabeth, on the other hand, stood next to me without a speck of dust on her. "What makes you think Athena doesn't hate me?" I mumbled to her as I stood up, brushing off my jeans.

Annabeth gave me a small smile. She was about to answer me when a familiar voice chuckled. Annabeth and I looked up to see none other than Chiron greeting us. He stood in his full centaur form, and his usual smile reminded me that it was nice to be at camp again. Chiron fixed his gaze on us. "I take it you two are fresh off of Olympus?"

Annabeth nodded seriously. "We received the quest."

"Ah," Chiron sighed. "It seems as if the gods are handling this with more persistence than I had expected. Let's discuss these matters somewhere more private, shall we?" Without another word, Chiron plucked Annabeth and me straight off of the ground and onto his back. In no time, we had trotted all the way to The Big House.

Chiron transformed into his wheelchair form while we all gathered around the ping pong table where the meetings were held. After we had informed Chiron of everything the gods had told us, there was a grim look on the centaur's face. "This is not a simple task," Chiron admitted. "As far as we know, this minor god is making her way across Europe."

I blinked. "To Greece, right? That's where Mount Olympus stood."

Annabeth nodded, turning to Chiron. "Athena told us a few other things too. We have to find pieces of something. They'll be like artifacts, and once we put them all together, it will make a powerful tool."

Chiron's eyes seemed dimmer than ever as the flames from the fireplace reflected on the side of his face. "A tool?" he whispered almost to himself. The silence was thick in the air, making me feel like Chiron knew something terrible that he wasn't allowed to reveal to us. He seemed to catch himself in the midst of his thoughts when he suddenly straightened in his wheelchair. "Well, it will be like finding pieces to a puzzle," he finally said. "If I'm correct in my thoughts, then this will indeed make for a very powerful weapon."

I knew better than to question Chiron. Annabeth continued telling him the rest of Athena's warnings.

"Athena is correct," Chiron stated, "members for this quest must be chosen wisely."

When I really thought about it, something seemed to be stirring inside of me like an instinct. One name was coming to my mind over and over until it voiced itself. "Thalia," I said immediately, surprising myself. "We need Thalia."

Annabeth frowned. "Thalia? I suppose we could really use her help," she reasoned, "but she's on the Hunt. She has her own group of Huntresses to lead right now."

Chiron stroked his beard thoughtfully. "Yes, Thalia, daughter of Zeus. It would be a wise decision; her strengths could be of great assistance. I'm sure the Hunt can do with a substitute lieutenant for a few weeks."

"What about Grover?" I remembered. As soon as I said it, I realized exactly how impossible it sounded.

Annabeth seemed to confirm my thoughts as she shook her head slowly. "He's lord of the wild now. We couldn't possibly ask that of him." For a second, there was a beat of silence until Annabeth said, "Nico?"

I found myself sinking into the idea quickly. "He could be important. He's a lot better at his powers now than he was before."

Chiron sat silently, thinking about it for a long time before finally approving. "Let it be settled then. Thalia, daughter of Zeus, and Nico, son of Hades, will be called upon for this task."

"But, wait…" Annabeth trailed off. The quest hadn't even begun, but I could read her eyes as they already begun calculating thousands of different strategies.

"What the matter?" I asked.

"That's only four people," Annabeth said. "Don't you feel like we could use one more person? Someone who is willing to help."

"A fifth member?" I asked, trying to understand where Annabeth was coming from. "I don't see how it would hurt us."

Chiron didn't question Annabeth's reasoning, knowing as well as me that she had elaborate calculations emerging in her head for how a fifth demigod could be of use. After all, strategy and planning were Annabeth's specialties. "Very well," Chiron nodded. "A fifth member will be decided shortly. For now, Lady Artemis must be informed of our plans. The quicker Thalia is present, the sooner you will be able to prepare."

As Chiron exited on his wheelchair to contact the goddess, Annabeth and I stood up. When I looked at her, I knew that there was one big question on both of our minds. "Where in the world are we going to get a hold of Nico?"

**…Thalia…**

"Thalia."

I looked up from the book I was reading in Ancient Greek to see Lady Artemis standing in the entrance to my tent, and I quickly closed my book, setting it on the floor as I stood.

"My Lady," I replied, bowing my head for a moment before looking her in the eyes. "Do you need anything?"

"I've just returned from Olympus and received an Iris Message from some friends of yours," Lady Artemis said, stepping into my tent and closing the entrance behind her. "There's a new quest, and Percy Jackson and Annabeth Chase are leading it."

I blinked momentarily before nodding, showing I understood and wished to know more.

"They've asked for you and the son of Hades, Nico di Angelo, to join them on the quest." Lady Artemis paused for a moment. "You have my permission to go, if you wish."

"Thank you, My Lady, but what is the quest?" I asked. If it was something simple, which I didn't actually think it was given Lady Artemis' seriousness and how they were asking for me as well as Nico, I wouldn't go, but I would if they really needed me.

"Olympus has another problem, Thalia, one that we can do nothing about given the circumstances. You see, one of the minor gods who sided with the Titans has not given up on destroying Olympus, taking down the gods with it."

I was scowling at the thought of a minor god still wishing to destroy the gods, my Lady among them, but Lady Artemis lightly placed a hand on my shoulder. The look in her eyes said to calm down, so I took a breath, closing my eyes for a moment. When I opened them, Lady Artemis removed her hand and continued, obviously knowing I was much calmer.

"This minor god found out about a special artifact. How the secret was found out we do not know as very few outside the twelve Olympians, Hades, and Hestia know of it, but somehow this god learned."

I couldn't help but pick up on how Lady Artemis was specifically _not_ telling me the name of this god, but I accepted it. She had to have a reason for keeping the name from me, so I didn't ask.

"What most do not know is that there is a tool belt somewhere in the world in one of the countries where Mount Olympus used to reside that houses the prototypes of the gods' weapons. Our father's Master Bolt, our uncle's Trident, and our other uncle's Helm of Darkness are only three weapons with prototypes in there." I was gaping and shocked at the idea, but Lady Artemis continued.

"Now, these prototypes are not as strong as the actual thing, but all of them together under one god can be deadly. It does not help that this god's own powers and abilities can only make the prototypes stronger, making each just as powerful as the final result in unique ways. Fighting against this god, if allowed to wield these weapons, will be next to impossible, which is why we've asked Percy Jackson to help us again and why he and Annabeth Chase have asked for you. Will you help them?"

I stood stock-still in my tent, somewhat staring at My Lady as I thought about what I had just learned and what I was being asked to do.

We would be going after a minor god – or goddess, I realized, remembering that most referred to the gods in masculine form when not trying to be gender specific, which was quite sexist, in my opinion – as he or she tried to find prototypes of _all_ the gods' weapons, even those not used anymore or not turned down. Those would be powerful on their own, though not as powerful as the actual weapons, but together with extra power behind them? This would be an impossible fight, and I knew my friends needed me to be sure they won it.

"Where would we be going, My Lady?" I asked. By the look she was giving me, I knew she recognized my choice.

"You will be travelling east, returning to where Olympus once stood, as not even Athena is sure where the tool belt got left behind as it was many millennia ago," she replied.

"I'll be going, then, My Lady, as my friends will need me for a quest this important," I stated. "I won't let you, father, or Olympus down, not after what we've just been through."

"Very well, Thalia," Lady Artemis said. "I will send you to camp shortly. Please pack, and remember, the gods are behind you, and we'll help. I'll be listening for any prayers from you, my lieutenant."

"Thank you, My Lady," I said softly. That truly meant a lot, to know that she would be watching out for me and willing to give me her blessing, even if she hadn't outright said that second part.

"I'll leave you to pack, then, Thalia. Also, Annabeth and Jackson will be informing you of everything else you need to know. Come to me when you're ready."

Lady Artemis stood and quickly left my tent, leaving me still standing in the middle of it, my mind whirling.


	3. Chapter 3

**…Percy…**

For the first time in days, I sat next to Annabeth alone.

Between her busy schedule with her boarding school and her redesigning job after the damages on Olympus, I barely got to see Annabeth's face unless it was through mist during two-minute Iris Messages.

My cabin was quiet except for the sound of metal lightly moving from the hippocampi Tyson had made and hung from the ceiling last summer and the sound of the squeaking bunk below us.

Annabeth took a deep breath, reminding me that there were other things on her mind. We had another quest to be thinking about now, which still didn't seem quite real yet.

"You ready?" I asked her, breaking the comfortable silence we had sunken into. Annabeth leaned into my shoulder, and as I pressed my face against her hair lightly, I knew what she must have been thinking.

It was almost frustrating to accept that Olympus was in danger again just after we had put everything we had into the Battle of Manhattan to defeat Kronos. There were already so many losses and heartaches, and just when the wounds seemed to be patching themselves up, another quest was being thrown at us. It wasn't fair, but there was no changing it.

"I just… I can't believe that this is really happening," Annabeth told me honestly. "It's too soon."

I flashed back to just a month ago when Annabeth and I had raced down Half Blood Hill feeling like we could finally kick back and relax for a while. All of those lighthearted feelings had seemed to "_Poof_!" away the second Zeus announced a quest.

"I know," I admitted. "But we're demigods, right? Stuff is going to be popping out at us every second of our lives."

Annabeth's fingers seemed to find mine, I gripped her hand as Annabeth stared absently at the wall. "Yeah, I am," she said to herself. Then in a more confident voice, she said, "I'm ready, I mean."

I nodded slowly, knowing that Annabeth's determination was coming quickly now. "Just like all the other times," I said.

"We're going outside of the United States this time," Annabeth remembered. "This might be our biggest quest yet."

I couldn't pretend like I hadn't thought about it, but I assured Annabeth that we would make it. "We just need to stick together," I said.

I saw Annabeth glancing at where our hands sat in my lap. Our fingers were intertwined, and it never felt more right than it did now when we had a quest depending on trust and teamwork. I seemed to read Annabeth's mind as I thought about something else that was different from all of our other quests. This time, Annabeth and I had each other, and it wasn't a secret to either of us.

I watched Annabeth smile slowly, and for the very first time, I let the quest feel real. Even though it was sudden, with Annabeth by my side, I knew it was another adventure that we could accomplish.

For the first time, as we sat there in a strange type of silence, it sunk in.

Annabeth turned her head towards me slightly, positioning herself so she was closer. I filled the gap, leaning in to kiss her on the lips. "I missed you," she whispered, and I knew that her busy schedule bothered her too. If nothing else, I had a feeling right then that at least one good thing would be coming out of this quest: Annabeth and I would be together along with our friends. Of course, the fact that our lives would constantly be on the line seemed to make it worse, but I preferred not to think about it that as Annabeth pressed into me.

Neither of us felt like moving from our spots, but things needed to be done. I sighed, finally standing up as I threw some last minute things together in to a backpack. Annabeth sat up as she picked up my camp T-shirt off the floor, folding it before handing it to me while quietly mumbling something about _boys_ and _unorganized_.

The air had a lighter touch to it as Annabeth and I exited my cabin, feeling a little better about the whole go-save-Olympus-again situation.

What we didn't expect was to see an old friend standing before us so soon. In the distance, Thalia stood, fully dressed in her Hunter's uniform, her figure creating a shadow as the sun blazed behind her from where she appeared tall by her pine tree.

**…Thalia…**

I stood with a hand on my pine tree, looking down at camp.

Camp had never really been home, but it was a place I belonged in, though I felt a lot more comfortable among my sister Hunters than the campers here. Still, I had friends here, and it was a place that brought at least some peace to me, especially when I was standing like this.

A cabin opened, and I saw two familiar people step out and look up in my direction. I could almost see Annabeth's happy smile and Percy's small grin, though it was probably more my memory of seeing them more than once.

Annabeth took off in my direction, Percy following behind her at a slower pace, shaking his head gently at the daughter of Athena. It only took thirty seconds for Annabeth to reach me at the top of Half-Blood Hill, and I had already opened my arms to catch her as she hugged me.

"You came!" she said happily, and I had to let out a laugh even as I looked at Percy from over Annabeth's shoulder.

"Of course I came!" I replied. "Who else is going to make sure Kelp Head over there doesn't get killed while you're too busy making sure the quest _actually_ gets done?"

Annabeth laughed lightly as she pulled away from me, Percy rolling his eyes while grinning at my comment. He knew it was so true.

"So, I've heard there's a minor god loose over in Europe after a tool belt with all the prototypes of the gods' weapons," I commented, "and that we're bringing Nico along with us. Lady Artemis said that all other explanations are to come from you, so what else do I need to know?"

"Why don't we go someplace where we can make an Iris Message?" Percy suggested before Annabeth could speak, and she turned to glare at him for a moment before sighing. At Annabeth's gesture, Percy led the way down to the beach, his hands tucked into his pockets as he walked.

"So, how's camp doing?" I had to ask, knowing they'd talk about this even if they wouldn't talk about the quest.

"It's been hard," Annabeth said quietly. "Except for a handful of cabins, so many of us lost siblings, and while many have recovered, even Chiron fears many are scarred for life from losing loved ones. We've been helping how we can, distracting them with building the few new cabins still to build for the minor gods and training, but it's going to take more time for everyone to be back to normal."

"The Hunters have been the same way," I sighed, thinking back to the conversation I'd had with Kristen just yesterday. She had cried right into my shoulder once I got her going, her eyes completely bloodshot before she was done. It had obviously helped, but it had been so painful for me to see as, even knowing her for only three months, I had come to see her as a sister just as much as those I had known for over a year.

"We'll recover," Percy said, glancing over his shoulder at Annabeth and me with a little worry before looking forward again.

The three of us were silent after that as we walked to the beach. I took the time to look at the cabins, and I had to admit I was impressed by the new ones, which were beginning to form a Greek Omega. It was obvious that Nico had had a huge hand in the Hades' cabin with its dark and creepy look while another looked like an old-fashioned prairie house that I recognized as Hypnos' cabin by the red poppies hanging over the doorway. Overall, though, the sight of the new cabins was a wonderful thing to see.

Finally, we reached the beach, and all three of us sat down in the sand near the ocean. Percy was obviously keeping the water away from us so that we wouldn't get wet, which I was grateful for, though I wasn't going to mention it at all.

"Why are we here, then?" I had to ask. "Who are you going to Iris Message?"

"Rachel," Percy said, glancing at Annabeth for a moment, but Annabeth's face still had the slight smile on it from my coming. It appeared her jealousy towards Rachel had disappeared, most likely with Rachel's becoming the Oracle. Percy's words also made sense, now that I thought about it, as we'd need a prophecy for the quest.

"Let's talk to Rachel before telling Thalia what she wants to know," Annabeth suggested, turning to Percy with a raised eyebrow.

He just pulled out a drachma and turned to the surf, where I could see a rainbow forming as mist rose from the water.

"O goddess, accept our offering," he said as he threw the drachma into the rainbow. "Rachel Elizabeth Dare."

It only took a few moments before a scene appeared in the rainbow. I saw the redheaded mortal-turned-Oracle sitting at a desk in what appeared to be her dorm room, wearing her normal jeans and a T-shirt, though I could see a terrible-looking uniform hanging in her closet.

"Rachel!" Percy called, and she looked up, startled for a moment before she grinned.

"Hey Percy, Annabeth, and is that you, Thalia?" she returned, turning her chair to face us completely.

"Yes, Thalia is here as well," Annabeth said. "Unfortunately, this isn't a social call, Rachel."

"Let me guess, you need a prophecy for a quest of some sort?" Rachel asked with an amused grin. "I guess it's a good thing I'm already sitting. Okay, one of you ask the question, and we'll see what happens."

"What do we need to do to stop the minor god?" Percy asked, and I almost rolled my eyes at the secrecy that seemed to surround the god's identity.

Rachel sat up straight, green mist swirling around her feet as her eyes glowed, green smoke coming out of her mouth. Her voice was the same raspy sound I had heard over a year ago when the mummy Oracle had taken a walk to give her prophecy, leading to the quest that saved Lady Artemis.

"_Five will travel East to where Olympus once stood,  
Chasing the goddess who feels misunderstood.  
Pieces of a shield shall be gathered,  
But not in time to stop the wizard.  
A daughter of magic will fight for what's right,  
To convince the turned against this plight."_

Once she had finished, Rachel slumped down in her chair, blinking slowly. I noted that being the Oracle could be exhausting when giving prophecies before thinking about the actual words.

Well, the first line we already knew as the gods had told us we would be going east. The second line mostly just told me that I had been right in thinking the minor god was really a minor goddess and Lady Artemis had just used the male form because she wanted to be generalized.

I didn't understand what shield the prophecy was talking about, but Annabeth would most likely tell me in a minute or two. Unfortunately, it appeared we would finish this shield too late to stop the goddess from getting the tool belt and have to fight her.

It also appeared we would be bringing a daughter of Hecate with us on the quest as our fifth as-of-yet-unknown member, and she would be the one to try to stop the goddess. Well, then, our fifth member was most likely quite brave.

"So, what did I say?" Rachel asked as she looked at us through the Iris Message. Annabeth quickly repeated the prophecy, and Rachel nodded as she heard it, her face one of interest. "Well, I believe I've helped all that I can. Try to be safe and keep me informed of what's going on, will you?"

"Sure," Percy said, and Rachel smiled at us all before breaking the connection.

"Well, that's an interesting prophecy," I said with a bit of sarcasm in my tone.

"It's more straightforward than most prophecies I've heard," Percy muttered, and I had to stop myself from rolling my eyes. Yes, it appeared straightforward, but we all knew that there was a chance it had double-meanings. Still, only about half of it made sense to me, which didn't really help.

Unfortunately, before I had the chance to ask more about the quest, the conch horn sounded throughout Camp, which meant it was time for dinner.

With a sigh, I headed up to the dining pavilion behind Percy and Annabeth, instantly taking my seat at the Artemis table, usually reserved for when the Hunters were here. Before food was served, however, Chiron stood to make a few announcements. I had a feeling the quest would be among them, asking for the fifth member of our quest.

"Olympus has ordered a quest to be sent as they have another problem," Chiron stated. "Percy and Annabeth have agreed to the quest, and Thalia from the Hunters has arrived to join them. Nico, son of Hades, will be arriving shortly to be the fourth member. They need one more member for their quest.

"If you accept, you will be going east to Europe, chasing after a minor goddess who has been causing many problems for the gods. Now, are there any volunteers?"

As Chiron said that, I looked around the pavilion. To me it appeared that most did not wish to go on a quest that would involve most likely fighting a goddess, not even the Ares cabin, and I didn't blame them. Still, I knew where to look and glanced towards the Hecate table. There I saw three boys and two girls.

One of the girls looked young, only thirteen, while the other was closer to sixteen. The boys all ranged from fourteen to seventeen, if my estimation was correct. The three boys looked quite scared at the idea of going on the quest, as if they thought they didn't have enough training, which most of them probably didn't. Of the two girls, it was actually the younger of the two who seemed to be working up the courage to accept, which made me blink before smiling slightly. She was most certainly brave.

"I'll go," the young girl said as she stood, her back straight and head high as she looked at Chiron. Her dark brown hair swung around her shoulders as she turned to look at first Annabeth, then Percy, and finally me. Her bluish-purple eyes bore into mine with a determination that I had only somewhat been expecting.

"Very well," Chiron finally said. "Unless anyone has a reason for Amberlynn not to go, I believe we have our fifth member of the quest."

No one said anything, so Chiron nodded quite seriously at young Amberlynn, and she returned it before sitting.

I looked over at the Poseidon table and saw Percy looking at Amberlynn carefully, something in his eyes. Examining him carefully, I began to realize that his look was one of some pride. It most likely had to do with the fact that she was a daughter of a minor goddess, meaning she was being given the opportunity to show what they could do. Maybe if we did well at this, others would look at the children of minor gods as more capable. I could definitely see where Percy was coming from with his obvious thoughts.

Shaking off my thoughts, I gathered my plate and went to give an offering to both my father and My Lady. As I went back to my table, I spotted Nico slipping up to the fire to make his offering before heading towards the Hades table. He caught my eye and nodded as he sat, and I returned it before we both turned to our meals. There would be time to talk later.

Once the meal was done, I saw Annabeth pull Amberlynn from her siblings to join Percy, who was standing with Nico. I went over to join them.

"We need to talk about the quest," Annabeth said. "Where should we talk?"

"Not in Kelp Head's cabin; it's always a mess," I stated, and Percy glared at me for a moment before he stopped, realizing I was right. "And not Death Boy's as it's just too dark in there."

"Hey!" Nico complained, but I just shot a smirk at him, and Annabeth was smiling as she shook her head. "Fine, if we can't use my cabin, and we know Athena and Hecate are out because they've got others in them, why don't we go to Artemis?"

"Nico, you're a _boy_," I stated, emphasizing the 'boy.' "If you or Percy went in there, there would be some consequences for all involved. I'm not bringing Lady Artemis' wrath on me." There were no more ideas after that, both Percy and Nico looking a bit afraid of what Lady Artemis would do to them for going into her cabin.

"There's always the Zeus cabin," Annabeth suggested quietly, and I looked at her a bit sharply. "I know you never liked it in there, Thalia, but it's empty and somewhere we can go."

"Fine," I sighed, waving for them to follow me, "come on."

Now I got to spend time in my father's cabin again. Great, just great…


	4. Chapter 4

**…Percy…**

I couldn't remember the last time I had stepped inside the Zeus cabin, and I wondered how long the shimmering bronze doors had remained shut until now.

The five of us stood in the vast marble cabin once occupied by Thalia. The building was furniture-less, and the high dome shaped ceilings seemed to be make the air chill.

Thalia shut the door behind her, arriving inside last as she had made a quick stop to drop off her backpack inside the Artemis cabin.

The moving mosaic on the ceiling resembling a thundering sky suddenly reminded me that the gods were counting on us. As the crystal black glass merged with the glowing yellow glass, forming a thunder bolt on the ceiling, I knew more than ever that we had little time.

I turned to the others where they were waiting for us to begin discussing our plans, and I found myself looking at Amber - our newest addition to the quest - as she stood patiently, waiting to be informed of what was going on. "How much do you guys know?" I asked, motioning to her and Nico.

"There's a quest," Nico said, starting. "Something about a minor god traveling to all the places where Olympus once was in order to get a tool belt to take down Olympus."

Annabeth nodded. "That's correct."

"A quest that's much too soon after we just fought a war," Nico added somewhat bitterly, mumbling his words.

I watched Amber stand nervously on the sidelines as she listened to what was being said. She hadn't spoken at all since she was left alone with us, but as I stared at her, she seemed to shift on her feet. "But we have to," she finally said, in reply to Nico's comment. "To save Olympus, I mean."

Nico glanced at Amber, his eyes giving her a good look as if it were the first time he acknowledged that she was a part of the quest too. Her words seemed to quiet him immediately.

"That's right," I encouraged her. "This isn't a joke. If we aren't able to stop this minor god in time, then everything we know could be destroyed."

Annabeth stepped forward, explaining the details of the artifacts we had to find as we traced our enemies trail.

Amber paid close attention, and I had a feeling she had understood the importance of the quest from the moment she volunteered. For a second, my mind drifted away from what Annabeth was saying as I flashed back to last month on Olympus when I had exchanged the gift of immortality in return for all children of minor gods to be granted acknowledgment. Amber, a child of Hecate, was standing up to be recognized, and I suddenly realized that she was fulfilling what I had stood up for in front of the council of gods.

I zoned back in as Thalia was speaking. "The minor goddess is moving across Europe, so it won't be easy tracking her. We'll have to use everything we have to follow her country to country."

"There will probably be plenty of monsters around, too, as long as we're traveling together, so we need to be prepared for that as well," Annabeth added thoughtfully. "I don't know how long it will take us to corner our enemy, but we need to pack carefully."

"Another thing," I said, "we don't have much time. The minor goddess is already on the move as we speak, so we'll need to get started quickly. We only have a day before we have to set off. Wrap up everything you have to quickly."

There was silence as all of us truly took in the importance of the quest. Stormy gray clouds formed on the ceiling as the mosaic rearranged itself slowly. Annabeth asked, "Are there any questions?"

"How will we travel?" Amber asked. "I mean, Europe… that's another continent."

As I thought about it, a realization seemed to strike me. "We'll make use of whatever is around us," I said. "The gods will provide the rest."

Thalia nodded. "We have Artemis's blessing. The gods _need_ this to be done to save their home."

Amber frowned, fingering a ring on her right hand silently. I suddenly had a feeling that the thought of relying on the gods or having their blessing seemed foreign to Amber. Although she had been claimed by the law of Olympus when she was thirteen, she had probably never heard from her mother. The cabin seemed to turn so much colder as I suddenly realized that it was a lot worse considering who Amber's godly parent was.

No sooner than I had allowed the uneasy thought to enter my mind, Thalia seemed to bring up the one topic Annabeth and I had been avoiding.

"So," Thalia said dryly, "is one of you finally going to tell us exactly who this minor goddess is?"

Annabeth and I exchanged nervous glances, and I knew both of us were thinking the same thing. Annabeth nodded to me silently, giving me the approval to reveal the news. Although I tried to keep a straight face, I couldn't help but subconsciously glance at Amber before speaking.

I exhaled. "The minor goddess we're chasing after is Hecate."

**…Thalia…**

Hecate.

Hecate was the goddess working against the gods, trying to take them down.

I couldn't wrap my mind around it for the first few moments after the name had finally been said. Then my mind calmed down, and I relaxed. While this was still hard to believe, rational thought was back, and I realized that it was quite possible. I mean, Hecate had been with Kronos during the war that had ended barely a month ago; it was quite plausible that she was upset and still wanted revenge on the gods.

She would be hard to fight, especially if she added her magic to the prototype weapons Lady Artemis had mentioned to me, which explained the worries of the gods. Still, we couldn't let that fear control us as we chased her to try and stop her. If we did, it would only make us fail. No, we had to go after Hecate with the knowledge that we would succeed in the end no matter what we faced.

Then I remembered one little detail: Amber was a daughter of _Hecate_.

Turning, I looked at the younger girl, who appeared to be thinking with her bottom lip between her teeth as she chewed on it, meeting no one's eyes. I couldn't figure out what she was thinking, especially with her blue-violet eyes looking at the ground, but I could guess about what a mess her mind must have been at that moment.

Suddenly, Amber threw her shoulders back and lifted her head, purplish-blue eyes flashing with a determination that made me blink as I had seen it so many times before in so many different eyes. Whether it be Percy during the war when he knew he had to fight, or Annabeth when protecting Luke during the war, or Luke back when we were on the run before all of this and he saw monsters after us both, or even when it was from my own eyes in the mirror the morning after my first sleep as a Hunter of Artemis – I recognized the look without any trouble. Amber had made her decision to continue on and fight despite the fact that it would be against her mother.

"Amber, if you don't want to do this…" Percy started, and I realized he hadn't recognized the look in her eyes as I had.

"No, I'll do it," she said sharply, her voice hard and full of the determination I had seen in her eyes. It was slightly painful to see in one so young, but I was probably more used to it than my friends, judging by Annabeth's flinch as she caught the undertone as well, because the Hunters looked younger than we really were, many hundreds of years old while still looking like teenagers.

"My mother is wrong in continuing to go against the gods," Amber continued. "She shouldn't have done it in the first place, but I can't really blame her for doing it in the Titan War because she wasn't respected at all at the time. Right now, though, after the war is done and her side lost? No, I can't agree with it. There's no reason for her to be doing this. My siblings and I have a cabin; the minor gods and goddesses are being honored. She just wants power, and I don't think she should be doing this for it."

I kept my face impassive as the thirteen-year-old spoke, but internally, I was quite impressed. She had morals and a way at looking at the world, and she would keep by them, even if it meant going against her own mother, it seemed.

"This means you'll be going against your mother, Amber," Percy said, and I had to wonder if he wasn't trying to turn her _against_ this quest for some odd reason. Then I realized he was saying things that would normally turn her away from the quest to see how determined she was about this, and I stayed quiet, letting Percy test Amber.

Amber's resolve wavered only for a moment, before her face hardened and she glared at Percy. "I _know_ that, but sometimes it takes having your own children against you for the gods to realize that they're doing something wrong; the war was an example of that. I'll go on the quest and help, but don't expect me not to hope that my mother won't realize her mistake and stop before it's too late."

I had to hold back my grin at both her words and the tone she was using as she said them. This girl would make a great Hunter with her determination and will to fight. Who knows, maybe I would get the chance to invite her before returning to the Hunters after the quest… Only time would tell.

"Well, now that we know Amber's on the quest, what are we going to do?" Nico asked, and I almost jumped. I had forgotten he was in my father's cabin with us because he was so quiet and fit into the shadows so well.

Shaking my head, I said, "Well, we'll need to prepare packs and be sure we have the supplies for camping. Who knows how often we'll be able to find a hotel rather than sleeping out in the open." I shook my head slightly, knowing that camping would bother the others more than me after a year and a half with Lady Artemis.

"You have the most experience with packing bags for camping, Thalia, so why don't you pack for all of us while we just gather some clothes?" Annabeth suggested, and I nodded once. It worked for me.

"Is there anything else, or can I go back to my cabin?" Amber asked quietly, looking down at her hands, on which she had a ring I hadn't really noticed before now, though now that I saw it, I realized she had been wearing it earlier. There was a purple amethyst in it, and it wouldn't surprise me if the ring was from one of her parents to represent her eyes.

"I think we're done," Nico said, glancing at all of us before looking at Amber carefully. "Why don't we head back to our cabins together, since they're close?" he suggested. Amber nodded, giving him a slight smile. "I'll see you guys later," Nico added to the rest of us.

"I'll probably be by with a pack in a little bit," I said to both of them as they turned to leave, and both acknowledged me before the door closed behind them.

Annabeth and I shared knowing looks while Percy seemed oblivious yet again, being his normal self. Still, if what Annabeth and I thought was true, I was going to be _surrounded_ by couples. Ugh.

"I'm going to go see what I can get from the camp store supply-wise," I said to my old friends. "I'll stop by your cabins once I've got all we'll need."

"See you later, Thals," Annabeth replied with a grin as Percy said, "See you."

Rolling my eyes, I called over my shoulder into my father's cabin, "Remember your in _my_ father's cabin, not _yours_, Percy," before closing the door. I chuckled as I heard Annabeth laugh, most likely at Percy's face. Hopefully that would remind Percy that it would be better to go to Cabin Three than to stay in Cabin One, especially if Annabeth was with him.

Hands stuffed in my pockets, I headed down the middle of the cabins. I probably would have continued all the way to the store if I hadn't seen a flash of light in the cabin that I now thought of as home: Artemis. Blinking, I decided to check it out just to be sure I hadn't been seeing things.

When I reached my cabin and walked inside, I saw that I hadn't been seeing things as five packs were now on my bed, one of them mine even though I was sure I had thrown it onto the floor in my hurry to get to Cabin One for the meeting I had just left…

Frowning slightly, I walked over to the packs and saw that each one had a name sewn onto it, my name sewn by my own hand a week after joining the Hunters and the rest obviously done by Lady Artemis as I had seen her embroidery before.

Grabbing my bag, I sat and opened it. Inside were the usual clothes, both modern and Hunters', toiletries, Ambrosia, Nectar, sleeping bag, mortal money, drachmas, my tent, and basic foods. Added, though, was a spare Hunters' tent, extra food, supplies that were normally stored in someone else's pack with the Hunters like flashlights and matches, and a note. Pulling out the note, I recognized the handwriting and quickly read it.

_Thalia,_

_I had a feeling you'd need these and had Hermes add in extra money as well as food for you. You should know what everything is and how to use it after all this time, so make sure the others learn quickly._

_Remember, if you need help, you only need to ask._

_Artemis_

Of course, My Lady would help in any way she could. This was something she could easily do, so she had taken the initiative and done it before I even had to worry.

A quick look in the other packs showed more money and food as well as another spare tent in Annabeth's bag, probably in case we got separated. That gave me the idea of putting the extra tent from my bag into Amber's so that we had three in case one got lost. Everyone had matches and flashlights while I knew the tents would have what we needed in terms of food for when we camped for the night; the stuff in our bags was for emergencies and when on the move. Pretty much, though, between the five of us, we had the standard supplies that the Hunters used.

With a slight grin on my lips, I picked up the four silver backpacks and made my way from my cabin to give them to their owners, ready to explain that Lady Artemis had provided them as a gift along with the help of Hermes.


	5. Chapter 5

**…Percy…**

The mist rising from the ocean shimmered after I made my offering. I didn't know what kind of reaction I was expecting to see through the Iris Message, but I knew it was now or never as I waited for the mist in front of me to arrange itself into a vision.

The image of my mom appeared. She was still wearing her night gown, and her hair looked uncombed, as if she had been tossing and turning all night.

"Mom," I called through the message.

She almost jumped when she heard my voice, dropping what I could now recognize as the phone in her hands. "Percy!" she said, looking relieved. I watched my mom scope the setting behind me as she realized I was at camp. "I've been worried. Rachel said you were at camp, but-" my mom took a deep breath, collecting herself. "What's going on?"

"Didn't Chiron tell you?" I asked, knowing that he had been in touch with my mom.

"Chiron told me you were called to Olympus by the gods for important news," my mom told me. "But I've had a bad feeling, Percy."

Sitting there on the sand, I knew that my mom and I had shared the same bad feeling telling us that something horrible was happening six hundred floors up on the empire state building. I tried not to let it show on my face as I asked her, "What do you mean?"

My mom shook her head. "Never mind that. Tell me what's going on? I was expecting you to be home from school two days ago, and now you're at camp." I knew she could see through me when she stated, "Something's wrong."

I sighed. "There's another quest, Mom."

I watched her eyes widen through the mist. "_Another_ quest? But that can't be. Percy, you can't possibly be thinking of -"

"I accepted," I said, quickly adding, "I had to." I understood that the news wasn't easy to take in for her. After the war, she had finally thought that her son would stop putting his life in danger, and here I was telling her about another quest. I told my mom about Hecate trying to take down the gods.

Although there was a look of understanding in my mom's eyes, she still seemed to shake her head. "All the way to Europe? It's the middle of your school year," she reminded me.

As I thought about it, a small wave seemed to come forward from the ocean, interfering with the mist as my mom's image flickered. A strange type of feeling stirred inside me as I looked past the Iris Message out towards the water. "Don't worry about it," I said, not knowing where the words were coming from. "The gods will handle that."

I held my mom's eyes for a long time. She took a deep breath, finally nodding. "I can't stop you from saving Olympus, Percy. But I need you to be safe."

I found myself smiling slowly, a small weight being lifted off my shoulders as my mom gave me her blessing. "I don't know how long it's going to take to travel across Europe to stop Hecate," I told her honestly. "We leave today. Chiron will keep you informed with as much as he knows."

I told my mom everything else I could remember, assuring her not to worry for the fifth time before she finally accepted the fact that I had to say goodbye.

"Be safe," my mom called as the mist slowly faded, leaving me staring out at the ocean. The sun was fixed high up in the sky, creating a narrow reflection on the blue waves. The longer I stared off into the horizon, the more I had the feeling that Poseidon was watching down on us. In the very far distance, I could make out an object. A ship was sailing towards camp.

I stood up, brushing the sand off my jeans.

I knew that Thalia was already packed, and I had been sure to ask Nico to check on Amber. Aside from the slight help from Hermes and Artemis, we seemed to have a good handle on our supplies. There was only one last thing for me to check on before we headed out. I had promised a certain girl from the Athena cabin that we'd leave camp together.

Annabeth was flipping her cell phone closed as I arrived at her cabin. She took a deep breath, blowing a strand of hair out of her face as she acknowledged me approaching. "Just got off the phone with my dad." I helped Annabeth zip up her backpack as she asked me, "How'd your mom take it?"

"I promised her that we'd be safe," I said, telling Annabeth about my conversation with her.

Annabeth nodded, putting her hands on her waist as she gave the cabin one last glance to make sure she had everything. "I can't believe we're already leaving," Annabeth mumbled, dropping her hands to her side.

Most of the campers were out at breakfast, leaving us with a fairly empty cabin. "Hey, we talked about this," I reminded Annabeth. "We can do this."

Annabeth smiled. "I know. It's just that… I feel like we're forgetting something important. If we had more time to plan, maybe we could have -"

I saw the look on Annabeth face, and I knew that her mind had been running a mile a minute, working up strategies to prepare for our task. "Slow down," I found myself telling her. "We have to pick up Hecate's trail before we even know what to do next."

Annabeth sighed, and I had a feeling she knew that just as well as I did. "We need to track her as soon as possible," Annabeth said as she picked up her backpack, slinging it over one shoulder and tucking her folded invisibility cap into her pocket.

Just before we exited Cabin Six, Annabeth gave me a quick kiss on the cheek. When I saw the look on her face, I knew it was just because she could. Annabeth smiled slowly. "Lead the way, Seaweed Brain."

Thalia, Amber, and Nico were already waiting for us near the beach by the time Annabeth and I walked down there. I had a feeling that everyone had picked up on our method of transportation as we waited by the water, where a fairly large ship was pulling in towards the shore.

From the distance, Chiron trotted over to where the five of us stood to see us off. "I assume you have everything ready," the centaur said, seeing that each one of us had packed a backpack. Chiron told us a few last minute things before wishing us luck.

"Well, then, what are we waiting for?" Thalia asked, looking towards the ship. I had a feeling that the last thing she wanted to do was walk out into the water to get onto a ship to sail over the ocean, but she put a brave face on.

Annabeth followed her lead, saying good bye to Chiron before boarding the ship. After Nico and Amber had climbed on after the two, I found myself turning to Chiron one last time. Before I could tell him good bye, Chiron's smile had seemed to vanish as he pulled me to the side. "There is one more thing that you should inform the others of," Chiron told me.

"What is it?" I asked, silently hoping that there wasn't anything else for us to be concerned about.

"The gods have managed to pick up a signal of Hecate's trail," Chiron informed me. "She was last seen in London, at Big Ben, to be exact."

I didn't know what a minor goddess trying to take over Olympus would be doing under a famous clock tower, but I thanked Chiron for the information, knowing it gave us a head start.

The others were already waiting for me once I had gotten onto the ship, and all eyes seemed to fall in the direction of the ship's steering.

"Where are we headed?" Annabeth asked, breaking the silence.

As I truly gained awareness of open water surrounding us, longitudes and latitudes of our location subconsciously floated through my mind before I found control of it. "To the UK," I said.

**…Thalia…**

When it was time to finally get on the boat to head out to sea, I couldn't help but be a bit cautious. Yes, I knew that the gods had blessed us and wouldn't do anything to the five of us, but being a daughter of Zeus, the ocean and I have never really clicked. I guess it's sort of like how Percy couldn't fly in a plane without my father zapping him out of the sky, the time on his first quest excluded.

So when I got on the boat, I had to do my very best to be sure the others didn't notice how I hesitated slightly about stepping on board and immediately moved towards the middle, away from the sides so that I couldn't be thrown overboard easily. No, I was _not_ afraid, just worried. I had never travelled by sea before, just as Percy had only flown the once, and it put me on edge.

Of course, years of keeping a blank face and hiding my emotions came in handy as I went below deck, stored my pack, and went back upstairs to lean against the cabin on deck, where Percy was already looking around at the various maps. Above me, the masts were opening and beginning to move, most likely at Percy's command like I had been told he had done during the quest in the Sea of Monsters that led to my being freed from my pine tree.

When I looked around for the others, I saw that Nico seemed even paler than he normally was, which was quite the accomplishment for the son of Hades. He was also staying away from the edges of the boat like I was. It all clicked then, and I walked over to where he was under one of the masts, leaning on the other side of the wooden pole.

"You feel it too, huh?" I said once I was comfortable, and Nico jumped slightly, turning to face me, his expression worried. When he saw it was me, Nico relaxed slightly before nodding.

"I know we're supposed to be protected, but being on the ocean…" Nico shook his head and lifted his hands up in despair, unable to describe what we were both feeling.

"It's a natural reaction for children of the Big Three when traveling in another's realm," I sighed. "Percy and Annabeth probably haven't even thought about it because it's not something they think of often. Still, I won't be able to get off of this ship fast enough, and we've been on it for ten minutes." Nico snorted, but I could tell he agreed.

"Hard to believe Annabeth didn't think of this, but then again, she can't think of everything," he said, his hand unconsciously moving down to touch his Stygian Iron sword hanging from his left hip. "We'll pull through and hide it, though. Keep this to ourselves?"

"Definitely," I agreed with a nod. "I'd rather not deal with Annabeth and Percy worrying about us when there's nothing they can do."

"That would be terrible," Nico groaned quietly. "Anyway, how's life with the Hunters?"

"I enjoy it, even if it has been tougher since we lost so many during the war," I admitted. "Still, we're getting better, and I truly do enjoy being a Hunter of Artemis. Being her lieutenant is just an extra part to it, meaning the others look to me when she isn't there and sometimes even when she is. How are the Underworld and camp treating you?"

"It's a lot better at camp now with the minor gods and my father getting the respect they deserve," Nico said softly. "I finally fit in there. As for the Underworld, it's mostly the same except my father is just a bit warmer toward me. He's truly grateful for what I did to earn him respect and gratitude from his family."

I could hear the happiness in Nico's voice, and I couldn't blame him for it. Most demigods didn't get to find out how much they'd pleased their parents, and I knew that Nico had been trying to very hard to please his father. I, personally, had given up long ago trying to do things _just_ to please my father, but a word of praise from Lady Artemis meant the world to me now.

"I'm glad," I told him truthfully. "Now," I continued, my voice turning a bit teasing, "how well do you know little Miss Amber?" Nico blushed slightly and seemed to be at a loss for words, but he was saved from answering by a voice coming from behind us.

"Did someone say my name?" Amber asked as she walked up to us.

"Actually, can you tell me anything about yourself?" I asked as I turned to look at her. "I know almost nothing about you." Amber looked at me curiously before nodding and sitting down right there on deck. Nico and I followed suit to listen to her.

"There's not much to know about me," Amber said. "My name's Amberlynn Astoria Ellis, but I go by Amber. I'm a daughter of Hecate, and I've got pretty good control over my magic, though sometimes it becomes too much for me. I haven't really gotten much of a chance to learn how to fight using my sword yet, but I'm a fast learner and I'm willing to learn. My magic is actually a really good weapon, even if it does exhaust me. Otherwise, I've only been at camp for about a month even though I've been working with my magic since I was seven, when it woke up."

Hmm… So our daughter of Hecate fights more with her magic than a sword. Nico and Percy would have to work with her on that while we were on the ship. Fortunately, I could tell that Nico had also noted the lack of training and was contemplating it. Otherwise, the information was quite basic, though I was quite glad to have it because it gave me at least a small insight into this thirteen-year-old girl.

"If you want to learn how to use your sword better, I could help," Nico offered cautiously, looking quite unsure of himself. The sight was so amusing that I had to hold in a snort. Yup, it seemed my insight yesterday was correct: I'm going to be surrounded by romance this trip. _Great_.

"Would you?" Amber asked hopefully, and Nico nodded once, making the younger girl grin happily at the thought.

"I'll leave you to it," I said as Nico pulled out his sword and Amber did the same, both of them ignoring me. Snorting lightly at the interaction between them, I headed towards the cabin to see what Percy was up to, and of course, Annabeth was in there with him.

"Should've known you'd be together as much as possible while we're on this thing," I mentioned lightly, making them jump and spin around to face me before they relaxed, realizing it was only me.

"Don't _do_ that, Thalia!" Percy groaned, shaking his head slightly.

"Do what?" I asked innocently, and Annabeth rolled her eyes.

"You know _exactly_ what," she stated, and I just grinned in response. "Did you need something, or are you just here to annoy us?"

"Well, annoying you is just a bonus, but nope, not really," I said cheerfully. "I just thought that, since the two youngest are out on deck doing a sword lesson, I should come see what was going on in here."

"They're what?" Percy asked, his brow furrowed in complete confusion.

"Nico is working with Amber because she hasn't had much training with a sword," I elaborated. "She claims she can fight with magic, but she's only been at camp for about a month, so she doesn't have much experience with her sword. We'll have to teach her when we have free time along the trip."

"Why didn't she mention this before?" Annabeth asked quietly, and I raised an eyebrow in her direction.

"Nico and I have an excuse for not knowing how much training she's had, but the two of you should have known she was new to camp," I reminded them. "Still, I think we should wait to see what she can do with her magic before we judge her. She told Nico and me that she's been using it since she was seven, which means a good six years fine-tuning it."

Annabeth nodded in understanding. Percy just went back to studying the various maps around the small room, most of the ocean but some of Europe as well. Those would be useful to take along in one of our packs once we got to the UK…

Then I caught sight of how the two in front of me kept exchanging looks here and there, and I rolled my eyes, taking my leave without even letting them know I was leaving.

Sighing, I looked around to see if there was somewhere I could go… A ladder that led to the roof of the cabin caught my eye, and I went over to it, climbing the ladder easily and quickly. It didn't take long for me to find a comfortable spot with my legs crossed as I sat just a little ways away from the edge of the cabin. The spot allowed me to watch Nico and Amber work with swords without setting off my fear of heights, for which I was grateful. I would need a spot that allowed me to be by myself if I was stuck with these four for too long, and it was nice to know that I had found one.

As I watched Nico demonstrate a block a few times before Amber tried to mimic it, Nico correcting her after the first three tries, my fingers unconsciously played with the silver bracelet on my wrist, Aegis. Allowing my mind to concentrate on nothing while my fingers went through a familiar set of motions allowed the tension in me to dissipate slightly from my body, my shoulders falling just a tiny bit.

It appeared that I was going to have an uncomfortable couple of days on this ship, both because I had two couples, one already together and the other hesitantly beginning, and because of the tension in my body at being on the ocean.

_This is going to be a long quest._


	6. Chapter 6

**…Percy…**

I felt like the ship's floor board was only a thin sheet of paper between me and the ocean as the steady waves passed under us. The sun shot down at me from behind heavy white clouds, and the ocean looked like a million pieces of blue crystal as we sailed quickly across the Atlantic.

We were a good portion of the way up north with only a few hundred miles left to travel, and I knew as we got closer, I should have been exceptionally alert to note our route. I tried to keep my focus on the different coordinates floating through my head, tracking our location on the maps lying beside me on a spare plastic chair, but my consciousness was slipping away quickly. It was almost like something was pulling me into a state of dreaming as I finally allowed my eyes to close.

I dreamed that I was swimming as if I was desperately trying to escape someone or something. Behind me, the image of a beautiful island in the middle of the immense ocean was fading slowly. Even as I was swimming away, feeling the currents obeying as they pulled me farther and farther from the island at my will, a strange sensation tugged at my stomach. The island seemed to be radiating a strong feeling that was all too familiar.

It took me a while before I realized what was happening. In my dream, I was swimming away from the shores of Ogygia.

Several memories blended together in a colorful swirl involuntarily coming to me. I remembered little things: the smell of cinnamon, the dim lit room in the candle light, the touch of moon lace against my skin, and the various musical notes in the sound of _her_ voice.

My dream shifted. I was suddenly on a raft. It was a something I recognized; it was the raft that had sailed me back to camp when I had left the island almost a year ago. But this time, as I sailed away from Ogygia, I was sailing towards something different. I was sailing towards another patch of land, upon which Calypso stood, waiting.

My arms and legs suddenly felt like strands of loose ribbon as I lay helpless on the raft. I had been stripped of the will to move my hands and feet. My head hammered relentlessly, and a state of exhaustion came over me quickly as I tried to breathe. It was all too similar to the feeling I could clearly remember from when I had awoken at Calypso's island for the first time.

Back then, I had been just as helpless and drained until Calypso worked her magic. I could remember her voice playing in my head louder than it ever had before as it kept my grounded to the earth.

When the raft finally pulled up to a form of land, it was an unrecognizable area. I had never been there before. The feel of salt water and mushy sand told me it was a beach just like any other. Calypso was dragging me off the raft and onto a towel on the sand as I lay worn out and unable to function. People surrounded us, walking around and minding their own business as if they couldn't see that a girl in a dress was attending to a boy who had just sailed up to the shore looking exhausted, like he had swum for miles in a marathon race.

I didn't understand what was happening, but my mind seemed to calculate snippets of what I was seeing. I could feel Calypso hovering above me. She looked the same as she did when I had left her. There was a type of eternal youth to her face and natural beauty that even the goddess of love couldn't compare to.

There was hesitance in her touch as her fingers on my skin kept me conscious. Calypso was shy and reserved, just like I remembered. It was as if I had never even spent weeks on her island, gaining her trust and learning her secrets.

I remembered blinking as I watched her mouth move, speaking to me. However, no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't hear her.

Behind her, the sun seemed to explode into a thousand burst of white light as Calypso's face glowed. Calypso smiled slowly. "Percy…"

"Percy!"

I woke up abruptly, knocking something over from beside me as I sat upright. My senses came back to me slowly.

"Percy," Annabeth said again, touching my shoulder. "What happened? We thought you disappeared somewhere."

I took a deep breath of relief, burying my face in my hands. Knowing that reality was still existent after a dream that had startled me so much was the best feeling I could have asked for at the moment. A hard blow came at me as I seemed to remember every second of what I had just dreamt. Thoughts and questions rushed through me, making my heart pound. Calypso was already freed from her island, and that was about the only thing that seemed to make sense.

When I looked back up, Annabeth was standing in front of me giving me a strange look. She studied my face, trying to figure out why I looked so troubled.

"I fell asleep," I told her, still trying to collect myself.

"I figured," Annabeth said. "I knew you couldn't be as stupid as Nico suggested."

I raised an eyebrow at her, giving her a questioning look.

"Nico thought you might have jumped off the ship to take a quick swim," she told me, sighing. "It doesn't matter, we've found you now. Listen, Percy, Thalia thinks she might have spotted signs of land nearby. Are we going the right way?"

I took a deep breath, closing my eyes. I emptied my mind of any other thoughts as I focused on the current of the ocean underneath us. Different figures and letters came to my mind before I had a solid image of the numbers _52°N and 12°W,_ telling me the position of our longitude and latitudinal location. When I opened my eyes and looked around us for the first time, I could see the thick layers of mist that surrounded us. "We're close," I told her.

Annabeth ignored me, obviously staring at me. She took a seat directly in front of me on the spare chair after scooping up the maps into her hands. "You look sick, Percy. Is everything okay?"

"Yeah. I was having a really bizarre dream," I said honestly, not really paying attention to exactly who I was talking to. The realization of what I had truly seen came to me slowly. There was no way I was about to tell Annabeth of a dream I had just had of _Calypso_. I wasn't sure if I was ready to tell anyone. It confused me, and there were feelings present that I just didn't know how to process just yet.

Annabeth looked concerned. "A dream of what?"

Before I could think of an excuse, the sound of Amber and Thalia's voices came from the front dock of the ship as they began talking loudly, obviously excited while they pointed at something. Annabeth looked in their direction, standing up. She was about to call for the others, to ask what was going on, when I grabbed Annabeth's wrist. "Wait."

She looked at me, confused for a second as I stood up. I didn't know what I was doing when I followed my instinct, kissing her. A breeze blew by as I gently grasped Annabeth's shoulders with both hands, pulling her closer while pushing myself into the kiss. Although she was taken aback at first, Annabeth eventually responded.

Just for those few seconds, any lingering thoughts or memories of my dream seemed to vanish. I felt like a wave of unruly sea water was crashing inside my stomach, like how the water was crashing against the surface of our ship.

Annabeth pushed me back lightly with her hand to my chest, obviously surprised. She stared at me. "What was that for?"

I exhaled. "I just needed to make sure this was real."

Annabeth frowned. "What's real? Percy, what's going on -"

"Land!" Nico called, drowning out Annabeth's words. Sure enough, in the distance, the image of a large dock was approaching.

I swallowed, knowing that our time on the ship was as comfortable as it was going to get. As we pulled up closer and closer to the British port, I had feeling that the quest was just beginning, and it was about to get a lot crazier.

**…Thalia…**

The moment both of my feet were on solid land, I couldn't help but let out a sigh of relief, and I could hear Nico doing the same beside me. Turning to look at him, I saw that his face had regained some of its color already, and I knew we were both in the same situation right now, not alone in what we were feeling.

Pushing aside the relief I felt at finally being off the ocean, I turned to look around the port. Boats were docked all over, and I could smell not only salt but also fish in the air. The buildings nearby still reminded me of America, but I had a feeling that was only because it was a dock; further inland, it would all change.

"We made it," I stated, and while Annabeth gave me a slight look of surprise, I saw Nico's slight smile at my words. "So, any idea where to next?"

"Well, the plan is to go to –" Annabeth began, but she was cut off by another female voice.

"Nowhere," the voice said. "This is your first and final stop."

I spun to my right and saw a teenage girl there. Blinking, I forced the Mist from my mind and saw a woman with flaming hair, white skin, red eyes, fangs, one prosthetic bronze leg and one donkey leg. _Oh_, I thought, _it's an Empousa_. This actually made sense as the original was a daughter of Hecate, meaning they all followed her.

"Not again," I heard Percy mutter, and I had to stop myself from raising an eyebrow at his reaction. If he had met an Empousa before and was still alive, he must have shaken off her spell somehow. I had to hope that he could do it again along with Nico.

Just as I was about to speak, I saw more Empousai come out to join the first, even a few dogs joining the mix. Now, the dogs would confuse most, but I knew they were Hecate's sacred animal, which meant these dogs were most likely either blessed by Hecate or magical, if not both.

"Our Mistress says you aren't allowed to leave this port alive," the original Empousa stated with a vicious grin. "This means we get to have some fun with you, especially you two boys."

"_Stop_!" Amber ordered as she suddenly walked forward, both hands out in front of her. I noticed she had twisted her ring around so that the amethyst was facing the Empousai rather than herself.

"A daughter of Hecate…" the obvious leader of the Empousai hissed as all the Empousai backed away a step, the dogs moving three. "We were not informed that a daughter of our Mistress would be here with the other demigods."

"Don't attack!" Amber called, her face set with determination. I even saw her hands glowing slightly purple, the most visible portion around her ring.

"Daughter of Hecate, do you side with these other demigods who chase your mother to stop her from power?" the Empousa asked in a hiss, and I saw Amber falter slightly. It seemed that she had hoped she would be able to get them to stop without making it obvious whose side she was on. Oh well, at least she had tried.

On my back, a quiver full of arrows appeared, a strung bow already in my hands at just a thought. Around me, I saw my friends drawing their weapons; Nico and Percy their swords and Annabeth her knife. In front of us, the Empousai were getting ready for a fight, their sharp fangs poised and ready to bite deeply into us. The dogs were growling as they took a step forward.

The only two who hadn't moved were Amber and the lead Empousa, both looking into the other's eyes. It almost seemed as if they silently communicating, coming to an understanding.

"Very well, daughter of Hecate, you have chosen your fate by going against your mother," the Empousa stated.

"My mother is doing the wrong thing!" Amber declared fiercely. "My siblings and I are acknowledged at Camp Half-Blood with our own cabin; the gods realize they can't ignore the minor gods anymore! Why is she doing this? Why does she still want power? Why is my mother trying to take the throne from Lord Zeus?"

"I cannot answer your questions, daughter of Hecate, Amberlynn Ellis, but I can tell you that the way to find out is by leaving these demigods and coming with me to your mother," the Empousa said. "Then she can explain herself to you."

Amber just shook her head back and forth, her teeth gritted together. I could tell she was frustrated and close to tears by what her mother was doing, by what she was being told by the Empousa, but I couldn't interfere. She had to decide for herself what to do.

"I'll stay with my friends and find my mother before it's too late," Amber said as she backed up to be behind Percy, Nico, and Annabeth, joining me for some long distance fighting.

"Very well, daughter of Hecate," the Empousa said, her voice sounding almost sad, resigned. "I wish you had chosen better, but I've done all I can to convince you."

The Empousai suddenly attacked us, jumping forward. I barely had a chance to react and let loose the arrow I had notched into my bow, turning one of the Empousai into monster dust.

As I continued to draw arrows and fire them, I saw Annabeth pull on her invisibility cap and begin attacking with stealth. Percy was just charging into battle, not worrying about getting hurt as he tried to take care of the Empousai. He was slashing, stabbing, and chopping without hesitating, his blade a blur of bronze at the speed it was moving, gold dust floating all around him in the air. Nico was stabbing the Empousai and sucking their essence into his Stygian Iron sword, leaving not even monster dust behind as he did it.

Next to me, though, Amber impressed me the most, because while I had seen my three friends fight before, I had never seen anyone fight with magic. She tied up the leader Empousa in ropes and then clenched her right hand, the one with the ring on it, into a fist, making the ropes tighten around the Empousa until she exploded into dust. Amber was even able to bring small amounts of lightning down on the Empousa, shocking them enough that it was easier for me to shoot them down without wasting energy by doing my whole daughter of Zeus thing.

It appeared to me, as I looked around while firing my arrows as carefully as I could, that Percy was purposely putting himself in the position to be attacked the most so that he took most of the damage, allowing the rest of us not to get injured. As much as I hated to admit it, it was a good idea, because injuries would only slow us down on a quest where we couldn't take the chance of slowing down for anything more than sleep.

When I ran out of arrows, unable to go out to retrieve them yet, I reached into my pocket and pulled out the familiar weight of my mace canister. Flicking it, my spear grew in my hand, allowing me to move forward to join Nico and Percy at the front, where they were taking care of the last twenty or so, Amber finally stopping her magic to make sure she didn't exhaust herself.

Swiping in one direction, I suddenly changed direction, allowing me to stab the Empousa in the stomach, turning it to dust with a pained scream that I ignored after so much time killing monsters. While I didn't fight with my spear as much anymore, not since becoming a Hunter, I hadn't lost my instinctive ability to fight with it, so I was able to block attacks with just a small twist of my arms, another turn allowing me to destroy the Empousai until there were no more.

Stepping back slightly, I placed the bottom of the staff of my spear on the ground, holding onto it as I panted lightly, looking around to see that we were all in the same state. Amber was quite pale while Percy just seemed tired. I knew that Percy's condition was one of the prices he paid for the Curse of Achilles, but I was only using personal experience when I decided that it was using her powers so much that exhausted Amber. Like a child of the Big Three, using her special powers exhausted Amber like nothing else. Examples like this made me wonder why the minor gods and goddesses were ignored; I mean, Amber obviously had quite a bit of power as a daughter of Hecate.

"You okay, Amber?" I called over to her, and she looked up at me, her purplish-blue eyes showing her exhaustion even as she nodded, her lips trying to smile but only managing to grimace.

"Sit down and try to get your energy back," Percy told her as he moved in her direction, Riptide already capped. "I think you overdid it with the magic there."

Amber didn't just sit down; she collapsed to her knees, obviously fighting to stay awake. Oh yes, she overdid it with the magic.

Pressing a button on the shaft of my spear, it turned back into a mace canister into my hand, allowing me to stuff it back into my pocket. That done, I quickly moved out to where my arrows littered the ground of the docks, picking them up and making sure they were all in one piece. One was missing its tip, so I tossed it, but the rest made their way back into my quiver, which disappeared along with my bow once I had collected them all.

When I turned back to the others, Percy and Nico were sitting on either side of Amber, Percy with his arm over her shoulders and both talking to her softly. Annabeth was watching the scene from near me, so I went to stand next to her.

"She fought well," Annabeth said once I was close enough to her, and I made a sound of agreement. "You were right yesterday, when you told me to wait until I saw what she could do. For someone who can't fight well with a sword yet, she can make quite the difference using her magic."

"Just like me with my lightning, Percy with his water, and Nico with his skeletons," I agreed, and Annabeth caught my eye for a moment before smiling slightly. "She was a good choice for the quest, even if we didn't really know it at the time." Annabeth couldn't do anything but agree.

"How are you feeling?" I asked as I walked towards the trio on the ground, bending down to sit on my knees, mostly asking Amber as I knew Percy would need to rest before we could travel outside of town while Nico would be perfectly okay.

"I'm tired, but I'll be okay," Amber told me as she glanced up at me. I could tell that she would be fine, but we needed to get her to a place to rest for the rest of today; she would also need food.

"We should find a hotel to stay in for the night," I said aloud, and I could tell Amber was grateful even if she didn't say it. "Between us, we should have enough mortal cash for two rooms."

Everyone agreed with me, so Nico and Percy helped Amber stand before Percy kept an arm around her waist so that she wouldn't fall, Nico letting go of her the moment he was permitted, his cheeks a light shade of pink. It was actually quite amusing to see him acting like this, especially because it was _Nico_, the son of Hades.

Leaving the docks, we walked towards the regular part of the town, and I knew just from one look at Annabeth's face that we were going to lose her soon enough so that she could go check out the differences in architecture from America to the UK.

Still, she stuck with us as we made our way to a moderately good hotel. As we went to ask about rooms, we got a bit of a shock. The moment we mentioned our various names, we were told that there were already two rooms booked and paid for, each with two beds, waiting for us upstairs. We even had meal vouchers for lunch, dinner, and breakfast tomorrow in the hotel's restaurant.

Accepting the keys to the rooms, we headed up to them and went into one of the rooms, which was declared the girls' room so that Amber could lay down in one of the beds and not have to move to the other room, even if it was just next door. She was asleep within moments of settling down in the bed.

"The gods?" Percy asked quietly, and Annabeth, Nico, and I agreed with him.

"This must be one of the ways they're going to help," Annabeth said. "They'll probably figure out which hotel we're headed to and pay for us so that we can save our mortal money for when on the road with a need for something else."

"That's useful," Percy decided as he made himself comfortable in one of the chairs in the room, putting his socked feet onto the corner of the bed Annabeth and I were resting on while his arms went behind his head. Nico was sitting next to Amber on the other bed, mostly just watching her sleep.

"So, Annabeth, let me guess," I began with a grin. "You want to go check out the various buildings in the area to see the architecture."

"Am I really that predictable?" she sighed, closing her eyes and shaking her head, and I chuckled.

"When it comes to architecture, yes," Nico declared, and I knew he was just lucky he was on the other bed with both me and Amber between him and Annabeth, or he'd be getting hit by Annabeth right now.

"How about you and Percy go for a few hours while Nico and I stay here with Amber?" I suggested, happily ignoring the look Percy was giving me. "You can either eat out or meet us here at around one-thirty for lunch in the restaurant downstairs, but _try_ to be back before dinner, please, so we don't have to send out a search party, especially if it means we find you kissing somewhere."

Both Percy and Annabeth made a face at me, but I could hear Nico trying not to laugh on the other side of the room, obviously amused.

Finally, though, Annabeth and Percy agreed and took off, leaving Nico and I with the TV on low volume, trying to find something we were both willing to watch while trying not to wake Amber up. Overall, it made for an amusing few hours.

* * *

**We would just like to remind our readers that this story does not involve the Heroes of Olympus series except for perhaps small details here and there (such as Jason's existence as a two-year-old). Anything that occurred in the amazing book _House of Hades_ has no effect on this story, especially because this was written and completed at least a month before the most recent novel came out.  
**

**Otherwise, thank you all for the amazing reviews. We're glad you're enjoying the story. :)  
**


	7. Chapter 7

**…Percy…**

Annabeth took my hand, pulling me along behind her as we moved further and further away from the hotel.

"Slow down, Wise Girl," I said, finally managing to make Annabeth stop as she glanced back at me. "Maybe we shouldn't be going so far. It's almost dark."

Annabeth rolled her eyes. "And since when are you one to care about safety and following the rules?"

"Look, all I'm saying is that-"

"We're almost there anyway," Annabeth announced, cutting me off. She pointed ahead, where I could see a bunch of old fashioned structures in the distance. "There are so many things here! The London Eye, the Palace of Westminster, the Gothic architecture… Percy, we have to see it!"

I tried not to groan. I wasn't about to admit that summoning the will of the ocean to carry our ship quickly and in the correct direction across the Atlantic had worn me out, not to mention that our fun encounter with the Empousa hadn't been the best welcoming gift into the city.

"It won't kill you to explore a little bit," Annabeth said.

I saw the look on Annabeth's face, knowing right then that this was something Annabeth really wanted. I saw the way her eyes had lit up when she spoke of all the history in London, and I found myself taking a deep breath. "Alright," I managed, "lead the way."

Annabeth smiled at me, readjusting her hand in mine as we continued to walk through the streets of London.

As we got closer to the dim lit buildings against the evening sky, I was truly reminded of where we were. Clear blue water bordered the row of buildings nearby, and several ships and boats crowded the river in our view. All the way on the other side of the water, the Palace of Westminster could be seen with all its colonial, government-style buildings and towers.

Down a walkway, to our left, a sign for a flourishing flower garden stood along with the several other signs for various parks were scattered through our side of the city.

"Look at that," Annabeth breathed, staring off in the other direction, away from the towers and buildings. I followed her gaze to a brightly lit circle that carried high into the clouds. "The London Eye."

What I was looking at was the largest Farris Wheel I had ever seen, standing only a few blocks away.

"It's the largest in Europe," Annabeth said, almost to herself. "Four hundred forty three feet high and made with one thousand eight hundred seventy tons of steelwork."

I couldn't lie; the Farris Wheel looked gigantic and as if it were from another century with its hi-tech image. I found myself looking back towards Annabeth. "You want to go?"

"Go?" Annabeth frowned. "You mean on the Wheel? That's nearly impossible, Seaweed Brain. We don't have the money to spare for it, and besides, getting a ticket on the spot will be who knows how expensive."

Almost by instinct, I found myself reaching into my jeans pocket, searching for any spare cash. My hand immediately clashed with riptide in its ball point pen form. Deeper inside, my fingers took hold of another type of plastic, which I only realized was there after pulling my hand out. Annabeth and I both stared at the thin card in between my fingers.

I had to squint to see what printed on the card in stamped letters. It took me a second to realize that the Mist was manipulating the card's appearance making it seem like a normal credit card. Squinting to concentrate on blocking out the gods' barrier, I read in golden letters: _Hermes Express_. All around the card, miniature writing in Ancient Greek engraved the edges.

"Where did you get that?" Annabeth asked, her eyes fixed on the credit card.

I flipped it over in my hand, observing the black magnetic strip along the plastic. "I don't know," I told her honestly, "It has to be help from Hermes."

"You spoke to Hermes before we left camp?"

I shook my head. "This is the first time I realized it was there."

Standing there, under the Wheel, surrounded by the towers of London and the Thames River, I could almost see Hermes' face in my head, winking. When I looked back at Annabeth, I knew she was thinking the same thing. "Where's the ticket office?"

It wasn't difficult finding it with all the road signs guiding us towards the office. As we stood in line, Annabeth tugged on my arm. "These tickets aren't easy to get; tourists book them months in advance."

"Don't worry," I told her, remembering that it was a week night and way past tourist season. "We'll get them."

The lady behind the glass screen, chewing bubble gum and counting a fan of money, barely glanced up as we approached. "Tickets for two?" she asked dryly in her British accent.

"Yeah," I said, feeling the credit card growing with power in my pocket. "Is it possible to get a private capsule?"

This got the woman's attention. She took one hand off the money in front of her, lowering her glasses to take a good look at us. "You want to buy out the entire capsule? Just for the two of you?"

I didn't change my expression, secretly knowing that two sixteen-year-old teenagers usually couldn't afford private seating on one of the world's largest Farris Wheel that could seat twenty five people to a pod. "Yes."

The woman popped a bubble in her mouth, eyeing us over once again before looking back towards her money. The next time she opened her mouth, she sounded as if she was in a daze. "Private capsules are usually reserved. I can offer you one after a bit of a wait, that is, if you don't mind it being pricey."

From next to me, Annabeth nudged me. "A _private_ capsule, Percy? You're going to push it."

I gave Annabeth a look telling her to trust me before turning back to the woman. "Just charge it," I said, not really knowing where my confidence was coming from. I calmly handed her the credit card that had only been discovered a few minutes ago.

I could have sworn the woman muttered something about six hundred pounds and billionaire parents as she swiped the card, completing the transaction for the tickets.

"I'll alert our attendants to prepare seating for two. It'll most likely be a forty minute wait before you can board the wheel since we're going to allow the larger parties who have reserved their seating to board first."

"Forty minutes-" I began saying, before Annabeth cut me off.

"That's fine!" she said, offering her best smile to the dazed woman behind the glass.

Once we were away from the ticket office, Annabeth stopped, positioning herself in front of me. "There is no way that just happened," she said, disbelievingly. "I've read all about this Ferris Wheel and how they run it, Percy. They don't just give away private capsules like that and especially not with _less_ than an hour's wait. The last time an entire capsule was rented out was probably for a wedding, months in advance!"

I blinked. "You think the gods had anything to do with it?"

"I don't know." Annabeth shook her head, equally as confused as I was. "I don't know which god would be helping us on something this irrelevant to our quest."

As I looked back at the bright lights decorating London, I had the feeling in the pit of my stomach about a certain goddess who had an interest in my love life. I silently hoped she wouldn't be making things more complicated as Annabeth took my hand again, saying something about just enough time to explore the Victoria Tower Garden. _Great_.

We got lucky finding a food stand, grabbing a bite to eat before exploring the rest of the parks. After stopping at almost every memorial structure and decorative bust around the garden to let Annabeth take in the history, time seemed to speed by – at least for Annabeth.

We almost allowed an hour to pass before we arrived at the lines to get on the London Eye. The sky looked especially dark, making the wheel glow with all of its white lights. The weather in the air got colder and the moon peeked through the sky. I watched as thirty two, completely sealed and air conditioned capsules slowly rotated around the circumference of the wheel slowly as large groups waited along the metal railings, moving into the capsules quickly and efficiently.

The doors to a completely empty capsule glided open as Annabeth and I approached. The attendant fixed her communication ear piece as she motioned for us to step inside. "You must be the kids that reserved a private ride," she said.

The Wheel moved at such as slow pace that it was easy to get on without it having to stop. We entered inside, feeling the air conditioned atmosphere immediately. "Have a fun trip," the attendant said, her voice quickly fading as the doors sealed shut.

The area looked huge now that we were alone inside a capsule made to accommodate twenty five. You could have easily fit a car or an entire dining table in the space. The glass exterior looked thick and a single light wood bench decorated the center.

Movement was barely felt as the wheel rotated and we left the landing zone, being lifted higher and higher into the sky at a rate we could barely feel, giving us a view of the water all around us.

Annabeth and I found ourselves just taking in the night-time view that suddenly surrounded us, making me forget about Thalia's warning to be back to the hotel early or about how we would explain a private ride for two on the London Eye charged on Hermes Express if the gods asked.

We walked over, standing near the glass windows that surrounded us, and I watched Annabeth's eyes roam ahead at the city. "You know, it took five countries to build this Farris wheel," Annabeth told me quietly. "As far as I can remember, we'll be able to see about twenty five miles far once we get to the top."

"How fast are we going?"

"Point six miles per hour; I read it in a brochure before. It takes thirty minutes for a single rotation."

"Well then I guess we have thirty minutes to live this moment," I said, finding myself shifting so that I was behind Annabeth.

She allowed herself to lean into me as my hands went around her waist. A deep silence sunk in, leaving us oblivious of the time passing by. Both of us had countless things on our minds.

Annabeth shivered, breaking my train of thought. "Are you cold?" I asked, concerned.

She shook her head but didn't argue as I put my arms around her tighter. "Do you think Amber is okay?" Annabeth asked, giving me a taste of what had been on her mind.

"She just needed rest to restore her strength. I'm sure she's awake by now."

Annabeth continued staring off ahead, thinking. "I hope they aren't waiting up for us. They should have had dinner by now."

I sighed. "Thalia and Nico know us well enough," I reminded her. "They'll know to keep going even if we're a little late getting back." Annabeth made a small sound of agreement, and for a second, I understood that she must have felt a little guilty that they weren't here to share the experience. "Besides," I told her, nearly whispering it to her, "you deserve this. You've been working really hard on Olympus, and if the gods want to give you a thirty minute break, take it."

I didn't need to look at Annabeth's face to tell she was smiling. "When I wanted to come out here to look at the different sites, I wasn't expecting to see it like this… all at once from this high up."

Just for a second, I felt like Annabeth allowed the quest to fade to the back of her mind as she tried to let go of everything troubling to take in the experience.

Nearly fifteen minutes had gone by before we came close to reaching the very peak of the Farris Wheel. I wasn't expecting it when Annabeth turned around, kissing me. My stomach did a flip, and for the first time while being more than two hundred feet up in the air, I was sure it wasn't from being in Zeus's domain.

When we separated, Annabeth bit her bottom lip. "I'm happy we're together," she whispered.

I returned her smile acknowledging it was rare for Annabeth to say these things. My eyes met hers as we faced each other. "Me too."

When she turned back towards the glass windows, we were fully at the peak. "It's beautiful!" she gasped.

From the very top, all the sites looked like they were right at our fingertips, even though they were miles away. The Parliament, Westminster Bridge crossing over the river, and Big Ben, among other things, shined in their full beauty on the other side of the city.

Without warning, a sense of fear and apprehension struck me from in the pit of my stomach.

As the wheel rotated slowly downwards, Annabeth looked towards the clock tower one more time before it disappeared out of view.

"What's the matter?" I asked hoping to make sense of my own bad feeling.

"Big Ben," she said, trailing off. "It looks normal, just like in the pictures."

Chiron voice continued ringing in my head like one of the bells inside the tower. _The gods have managed to pick up a signal of Hecate's trail… She was last seen at Big Ben, to be exact._

I readjusted my hand on Annabeth's waist, knowing that she was trying to push the same thoughts out her mind that I was.

As we circled back down, coming closer and closer to the ground, Buckingham Palace could be seen in the background behind St. James Park.

In the last ten minutes of our ride, as the Farris Wheel approached the landing zone, Annabeth and I seemed to come back down to earth along with the Wheel.

We took in our last view of London, brightly lit up, from up in the air.

When the doors finally glided open and we stepped outside, Annabeth blew a strand of hair out of her face. We shared a look, unable to exchange words for the experience we had just managed to buy ourselves.

The ground felt like it was still moving under our feet when we got off, the ride leaving us just a tiny bit dizzy.

"Back to the hotel?" I asked, knowing we were both doing our best to regain focus of our goals.

Annabeth didn't look back before starting off back in the direction of the hotel. "Definitely."

Thankfully, it wasn't as late as the night sky appeared by the time Annabeth and I returned to our own rooms. I expected Thalia, Amber, and Nico to be camping out in one room until they were ready to sleep, but I was surprised to find Nico alone in the second room when I used the key to get in.

"Look who's back," he said sarcastically. When he saw my raised eyebrow, he sighed. "The girls kicked me out of their room."

"I see," I said, finding myself unsurprised. It didn't take long for me to throw on a pair of pajamas and t-shirt for the night and collapse onto the hotel mattress that seemed like a billion feathers beneath my body. My body ached as all the work from controlling the currents, fighting monsters, _and_ keeping up with Annabeth's touring came at me all at once.

When I looked over at Nico, he was on the other mattress, fidgeting with the remote control as he tried to flip through the channels on the TV in front of us.

"How's Amber?" I asked, getting his attention.

Nico seemed to give up on the TV, clicking it off before answering me. "She got up, and we went down to the cafeteria to eat, but that's about it. She went to bed after that."

"It's her first quest," I said, reminding him that it would take her some getting used to in order to keep up. "Give her a night to recover."

"I didn't know she could fight like that," Nico said absently.

I yawned, pushing back the sleep as I thought about it. "That's because children of minor gods are never taken seriously. Once she gets better control of her magic, she could easily stand up to someone from the Ares cabin."

Nico nodded, leaning back into his pillows. "So, where have you and Annabeth been this whole time?"

"How long were we gone for?" I asked, answering his question with a question.

"Couple hours."

"We were trying to see all of London," I told him, trying to skid around the fact that we had just taken a nearly thousand dollar ride thanks to our electronic payment method.

"Sure," he said, in a tone that reminded me of the same annoying kid I had met two years back. "More like trying to find a quiet spot so you two could suck face, right?"

I exhaled loudly, ignoring him. "I'll tell you what, Nico. The next time we get a quiet night on this quest, which unfortunately I don't think we'll be having the luxury of anymore, you can take Amber out."

Nico scrunched his nose. "Take Amber out? What's that supposed to mean?"

"Exactly what it sounds like," I said, glancing over at him. "You can't tell me that you haven't thought about being alone with her at least once."

Even in the dim shade of the room, Nico seemed turn a shade of red. "I have no idea what you're talking about," he announced, trying to sink deeper into his pillows. It only took a few second for him to prop back up on one elbow. "But let's say I was able to be alone with Amber," he said quietly, as if he was afraid the walls would hear us. "Do you think, I don't know, that she'd want the same thing?"

"Look, if you want my advice, you should try talking to her. Find out about her and just be her friend. That's how it started with Annabeth," I told Nico honestly.

Nico was silent, staring ahead, and I knew he was thinking. I tried to keep my eyes open, but the room seemed to get darker every time I blinked. I finally gave in, making sure Riptide and the Hermes credit card were beside me on the side table before turning over. I quickly made a mental note to share the card with the others tomorrow, before dreams threatened to take over my train of thought.

"Goodnight, Nico," I muttered before falling asleep for good.

**…Thalia…**

I woke up suddenly at the sound of a toilet flushing loudly from nearby. Sitting up quickly with reflexes only being on the Hunt and fighting in a war could bring about, I saw Amber still asleep in her bed. That meant the one in the bathroom was Annabeth.

Just as I figured that out, the door to the bathroom opened, and she walked out, light filtering into the bedroom through the doorway before she shut it off. My eyes adjusted, and I saw some light was entering the room through small gaps in the curtains, fortunately not landing on the side of the room where the beds were.

"Oh!" Annabeth gasped quietly, and I turned slightly to see that she had just noticed me sitting up in bed. "I didn't think either of you would be awake."

A glance at the clock told me it was only 6:30 in the morning, which didn't help my annoyance at Annabeth for waking me up, but I just said, "Well, I don't exactly have someone using a toilet at six-thirty in the morning with the Hunters."

Annabeth blushed slightly and said, "Sorry about that. I forgot."

"It's fine," I told her, waving a hand in the air nonchalantly. "No big deal. I'm used to odd hours anyway, these days."

"True," Annabeth sighed, moving to sit at the foot of my bed while I pulled my legs in to cross them. "You know, with all that's been going on, we haven't really had a chance to catch up…"

"No, we haven't," I agreed, a bit saddened by it as, even if I _had_ lost six years of my life, Annabeth was still my sister in the ways that mattered. "How's the rebuilding of Olympus coming along?" Annabeth's eyes began to shine as she thought about her project.

"Oh, it's coming along amazingly!" she exclaimed in a whisper, smiling proudly. "I've already planned temples for each of the gods and even some smaller ones to honor multiple minor gods at a time. And…"

Annabeth went on for another minute before realizing what she was doing and blushing. "Sorry, I just get really into this sometimes… Percy is always commenting on it." I just laughed lightly, trying to keep down for Amber's sake.

"Annabeth, I've known you for years," I reminded her. "If I hadn't been expecting you to do this, I'd be a terrible friend who doesn't know you at all. Trust me, even if some of what you says doesn't make sense, it's worth it to see your face as you talk about it." Annabeth flushed in a bit of embarrassment, but she didn't comment. "Since Kelp Face isn't here, why don't you tell me how the two of you together has been? If he's been treating you badly…"

"No!" she said quickly in a normal voice, making us both freeze and glance over at Amber, who kept on sleeping. "No," Annabeth said again more quietly, "he's been… well, Percy. If anything, I've been the problem, what with school and working on rebuilding Olympus. We're rarely seen one another since we left Camp."

"And when you do see him?" I prompted. I was just interested in how they acted now that they were finally together. Percy wouldn't treat her badly, not after all they had been through, so I wasn't really worried about that, but threatening the idea like that was just my way of reminding her that she was my sister in my mind. Well, that and it would be quite nice to have a reason to beat up Percy.

"It's pretty much the same as before except without the tension," Annabeth finally said just before I prompted her again, and I realized she had been trying to figure out how to word her response. Then I thought the response over and let out a chuckle.

"I noticed there wasn't as much sexual tension anymore, thank the gods," I commented with a grin, and Annabeth slapped my arm as I snickered quietly.

"Enough about Percy and me," she finally stated. "How are things with the Hunters?"

When I heard that, I immediately stopped laughing, and my face went into its familiar mask that hid what I was really feeling so that I could do what needed to be done. Recently that had been comfort my sister Hunters without dealing with everything myself while in the past it had been fighting in the war without giving away how much Luke's betrayal hurt.

"Thalia?" Annabeth said softly, and I blinked before focusing on my friend, realizing my thoughts had spun out of my control for a few moments.

"It's been… tense," I finally sighed, looking away from the daughter of Athena. "We lost so many… At camp it's one thing to lose people in the war, but imagine being with someone for decades, even _centuries_, and suddenly losing her in a battle that lasted less than a week but allowed no time to grieve until after it was done. So many of the Hunters are finding it hard to adjust, to grieve, to accept that they're gone… It's even worse with certain girls."

"Thalia…" Annabeth said as she placed a hand on my arm, obviously unable to find the words to voice her thoughts. I knew exactly how she felt as I had that feeling each time I looked at some of the girls fighting or trying not to cry or even with tears falling down their cheeks.

"I've been helping them how I can," I whispered, knowing Annabeth would hear me if only because the room was so quiet. "When someone gets mad, I give her a way to take out the anger, but if she goes too far, I remind her of their place. If someone is crying, I comfort her as best I can by being there until she's calm, then finding something to do that might cheer her up. I just try to keep them all going, to help them get over this…"

My gaze had fallen down to my hands, which were laced together in my lap atop the comforter. Then I heard a voice I hadn't been expecting to hear.

"And who does that for you?" Amber asked, slowly sitting up, and I realized she had only been pretending to sleep and had probably been awake for the entire time.

"What?" I asked as I realized she was talking to me.

"You talk about what you do for your Hunters, but who does that for you?" she asked, elaborating a bit.

Now that I understood the question, I couldn't answer it aloud because the answer was obvious: no one. As Lady Artemis's lieutenant, the daughter of Zeus, and the stubborn fighter, I had no one who could help me with all of this. Anyone who would normally try knew that I wouldn't accept help. I pushed things away, trying to let them go, rather than facing them. My friends all knew I was too stubborn to accept help, not about this, not when others needed me to be strong for them.

After these thoughts came to my mind, built-up memories, thoughts, and emotions threatened to overwhelm me as Amber's words attacked the barrier I had put up to keep them all back. Still, it was strong enough that I managed to keep them back by looking down at my hands again before closing my eyes.

As all this happened, silence reigned in the room for many minutes. None of us were able to find something to say, especially not after what had been basically admitted. We all knew that those who had been in that battle had gotten help from someone, Hunters and campers alike, yet I hadn't spoken to anyone about it.

Looking for something different to talk about, I glanced up at Amber and saw she was playing with her right hand. A closer look showed something I had seen more than once before and was curious about.

"Amber," I finally said, breaking the silence as both girls looked up at me, "what's with the ring?"

At my words, Amber suddenly recognized what she was going, and her left hand froze just as she brought the amethyst to the top of her ring finger as she had been spinning the ring around her finger. To me, it appeared that she did that quite often, and it had become a habit for her to do. It was something everyone eventually got, and I was no exception as I played with the silver bracelet on my left wrist, which became Aegis, my shield.

Amber sighed before replying, her left hand now lightly touching the ring on her right. "All children of Hecate come into their magic at age seven; it's just how it works," she explained, and I saw that Annabeth hadn't known this and was surprised. "My mother only has children with men who know who she actually is because of this. On our seventh birthdays, we suddenly start having odd things happen around us, such as winds blowing when there is no wind, or wanting something just out of reach and having it fly into our hands.

"Because my mother knows of this, she tells each of our fathers that, on our seventh birthdays, we are to be given a ring that she gives them before leaving for good. The rings are different thicknesses depending on gender, and they grow with us, always able to slide off, not that I've ever taken mine off. The stone is an amethyst, not because of my eyes, but because it's the color we all glow slightly when doing magic, as you both saw yesterday."

I nodded slightly and saw Annabeth was doing the same, though neither of us was moving to interrupt Amber as I knew we were both quite curious about her.

"The rings give us more control over our magic, allowing it to obey us rather than just acting out randomly. It's almost like your spear, Thalia, when you use it to channel lightning. My siblings and I use the ring as a way to control what we do even better than we can without them. They're the only gift any of us has ever received from her."

Amber's head was down, looking at the ring she was again playing with. I couldn't see the expression on her face, but I could picture the sadness on it. It was so hard on _all_ of us to barely receive anything from our godly parents, which was, of course, why this war was fought in the first place.

"How come I haven't seen the rings before?" Annabeth asked curiously, looking at Amber with her head cocked slightly. Amber glanced up and smiled a bit grimly.

"No one really notices anything about my siblings and me," she informed Annabeth, and we both saw the look on Annabeth's face at those words. "Oh, we're got a place now, and we all love it, but with so many campers these days, even with summer over, it's hard for anyone to notice everything about everyone. When people look at us Hecate kids, they see the purple glow our hands, and sometimes bodies if the magic is big enough, make while doing magic, but they don't really notice the rings on our hands. They're small and appear insignificant."

"Besides, Annabeth, you've been busy on Olympus with the rebuilding," I added.

"True," she sighed, "but it's hard to believe I never noticed the rings before."

I shook my head at Annabeth, recognizing this as her daughter of Athena trait where she had to know everything she could about something. She saw my action and glared at me, knowing what I was shaking my head about, so I just smirked at her before moving to get out of bed to use the bathroom.

"We should probably get dressed and find breakfast soon so we can get moving as early as possible," I commented as I stood in the doorway of the restroom and glanced at Amber and Annabeth. "Plus, we'll have to wake up Kelp Head and Death Boy, or they'll never get up."

With that, I quickly went into the bathroom and did my business before leaving it to find Annabeth half-dressed while Amber had her clothes in her arms and slipped into the bathroom once I was out. They had taken my words to heart, probably after looking at the clock and seeing that it said it was 7:03AM. The only chance of getting out of here by nine was to get ready now and spend some time waking up the boys before finding some food.

After getting dressed and making sure my bag was packed up, I shot Annabeth a grin that had her just shaking her head in amusement, a small smile on her lips. With my bag over my shoulder and the breakfast voucher in my pocket, I took the spare key to the boys' room I had made sure to grab and slipped out of the room just as Amber left the bathroom, fully dressed.

I was smirking slightly as I slipped the key card into the boys' door to unlock it, opening it as quietly and slowly as I could. Once the gap was large enough, I slipped in, closing the door behind me with an almost silent "_Snap!_" Then I looked around the room. The setup was basically the same as my room, but the boys both got their own beds, unlike us girls – Annabeth and I had shared last night.

Percy was barely covered in his blankets as they had obviously been kicked off of him during the night, ending up covering only his left leg. He was soundly asleep, snoring very quietly, and there was drool on his pillow, which I made a face at as I turned away. Nico, unlike Percy, was obviously a very quiet sleeper as he was still completely covered by his blankets, and it looked as if he hadn't moved at all during the night. There were no snores coming from his direction, though I had to admit that Percy wasn't very loud, and his mouth was almost completely closed. Both of them looked quite peaceful in their sleep without the lines of worry on their faces from the war.

I moved quietly to stand between their beds, carefully placing a finger on each boy without waking them up. Then I concentrated on the electricity in me and sent out a shock down each arm and into the boys, making them scream and sit up in shock. Covering my mouth to stifle my snickers, I backed away from them quickly, heading towards the door.

"_THALIA_!" they yelled, and I allowed myself to burst out laughing as their hair was standing on end before I slipped out the door to let them get ready. It wouldn't take them long to see the clock and realize that had been their wake-up call.

"What did you do this time?" Annabeth asked with a sigh as she left our room next door and saw me leaning against the wall between the doors, laughing.

"My usual wake-up call," I told her with a smirk, and she just shook her head.

We waited in the hall quietly as Amber soon joined us. Impatience began to grow in all three of us, most likely not helped by our ADHD that affected all of us up to a point, until Annabeth finally held out her hand to me. With a raised eyebrow, I lightly placed the room key in her hand and watched as she knocked loudly on the door before unlocking it and going in, holding the door open as she stood in the doorway.

"If you two aren't out here in five minutes, I'm keeping your breakfast vouchers and not letting you eat," she commented easily, though the threat was obvious in her tone. At that, I heard noises as the two boys began rushing around the room before they were cut off as Annabeth closed the door behind her. "They'll only be another minute at the most," she announced, and I saw that all three of us were smirking.

Once the boys finally joined us, both shooting me disgruntled looks that I ignored except to hold up a single finger threateningly, we went down to the restaurant and found our food. It didn't take long for us to finish off our plates, and that was when we began talking again.

"So, how are we getting to Big Ben?" Nico asked. He was mainly looking at Annabeth, and she rolled her eyes before sitting up straighter and pulling out a sheet of folded paper from her pocket.

"I've got a pretty good idea of where it is. We just need a way to get on the other side of Thames River. I thought the best way to get there would be by train since most trains end up there at some point, making it easier to find one for us," she said, unfolding the paper to show that it was a train schedule. She had most likely picked it up yesterday while out with Percy. "There's a train that leaves in just over an hour from the station here, so if we hurry, we should make it without much trouble."

"The train ride will be quick," I mentioned, "but the waiting for it isn't really a bad thing." Everyone looked at me, and I rolled my eyes this time before looking at Annabeth. "I'm surprised our daughter of Athena hasn't already realized that waiting around for transportation is an excellent time to plan what we should do if we get separated while in the area or if someone gets truly hurt."

Annabeth blinked before nodding. I could tell by the look in her eyes that she was now thinking of plans for anything that could go wrong, and she would inform us of them and hear our input once we were at the train station.

"If we need to hurry, we should get going," Percy mentioned, pushing back his chair to stand up.

The rest of us followed suit. It would be a somewhat quick and peaceful train ride, but I had a feeling we all knew that it was the calm before the storm that was coming our way as we went to Big Ben.


	8. Chapter 8

**…Percy…**

We exited the subway at a station called _Waterloo,_ which successfully brought us to the other side of London and closer to our destination: the Palace of Westminster. More importantly, it brought us closer to Big Ben.

"Anything else?" Annabeth said, once we had all quickly gotten off the subway, watching the electronic doors glide close quickly as it prepared to speed away to the next stop. I focused on what Annabeth was saying, knowing she was referring to the discussion all five us had been having about back up plans in case we needed to jump into combat again.

If someone were to get hurt, it would make everything a whole lot more difficult. All of us seemed to know that we had to keep our guard up constantly.

Thalia shook her head. "We're as ready as we're ever going to get."

We didn't waste more time finding the steps that led us out into the city. It was bright outside, and the sun seemed to glare down at us from up in the light blue sky. The streets of London were busy this time of the day with pedestrians walking on the sidewalks, and cabs and small cars cluttering the roads.

Annabeth didn't have trouble leading us as she regarded the street signs towards the clock tower, and I had a feeling she had studied London brochure's with the maps for quite some time at the hotel.

As we got closer to The Palace of Westminster, the streets immediately felt more organized. I recognized the buildings I was looking at immediately from my walk with Annabeth on the other side of Thames River last night.

Tall buildings and towers stood side by side. They had a gothic look to them with their nearly golden stone material, dark black roofs, uniquely shaped windows, and various pointed pillars like the top of a castle.

"It's the House of Parliament," Annabeth said, as we approached.

Amber looked towards a tall structure with a big dome shaped top. "The parliament?" she asked. "Like the actual government of the United Kingdom?"

Annabeth nodded. "This is the real thing. It's where the meetings take place."

We took another turn at the street corner, leaving us standing in the center of all the buildings. We were in the heart of The House of Parliament, London's most history-filled and popular tourist site.

In front of us, the structure that we had traveled all this way for stood in all its glory. We had been able to see it from miles away, but it didn't sink in until we were looking at one of the giant clock faces from close up. It looked huge with large and shiny clock dial made of white glass, about three hundred feet height, and pointed black tip to finish off its appeal.

"There it is…" I said, breaking the silence all of us had sunken into upon seeing the tower. The time clearly revealed it to be about an hour before noon as the giant hour and minute hand both appeared to be near the eleven.

Nico was the next to speak, asking the one question I knew we had all been thinking. "How the Hades are we supposed to get _inside_ of it?"

Annabeth bit her lip. "It can't be _that_ hard. People take tours inside, sometimes even to the very top, all the time."

"Tours?" Thalia said, and I knew she was thinking. She was staring in the distance at something, and I didn't realize what she had in mind until she pointed to a man who stood leaning against a stand. He wore a uniform and a casual baseball cap. "Come on," Thalia told us, starting forward.

I couldn't make out what the letters on the sign read, but it got clearer as we got closer. The man was obviously a tour guide, probably waiting for his next group of tourists. I thought about last night and how Annabeth and I had already gotten lucky once when we booked a private capsule on the London Eye. I seriously doubted we could get lucky with the gods' help again if we tried to book a last minute tour for Big Ben.

Thalia had other ideas in mind. She put on a straight face and straightened out her clothes before she approached the tour guide. He was looking in the other direction, obviously unaware of the fact that a bunch of kids had walked across the streets to talk to him. Thalia put on a smile, "Excuse me, is this where we meet for the tours of Big Ben?"

The tour guide looked confused as he stared back at Thalia. "They never said anything about a group of kids for the next tour," he muttered in his thick British accent. Then, turning to Thalia, he said, "Listen, miss, the next tour doesn't start for a few hours. I'll be happy to answer your questions then, but I'm on a tea break right now."

I wasn't expecting it, but Thalia did something that I had only seen her do once before. She snapped her fingers.

A sharp sound drowned out the chatter of the people around us and the noise of cars running on the packed London streets. A gust of swift wind seemed to go out in all directions emerging from Thalia's fingers.

The tour guide looked dazed the next time he looked at Thalia. She put on her best smile as she said, "But we were told the tour starts now. In fact, it's already late."

The tour guide seemed to spring to attention as he began straightening out his tie. "I'm sorry for the delay, madam," he said as if he was worried he would lose his job.

Thalia stiffened. "We paid good money to see the clock tower. Maybe if you hurry showing us inside, we won't have to report this to your supervisor."

"Yes, most certainly," he said, wiping sweat off his brow. "Where are the others?"

"No others," Thalia said. "It's just the five of us, and we expect a tour."

I was sure it wouldn't work. Five kids signed up for a tour by themselves just wasn't reasonable. For a second, the tour guide looked confused, but Thalia kept her steady blue gaze on that man. He seemed to crack under the pressure. "Certainly," he finally said, nodding his head quickly. "It's right this way. Shall we get started?"

As the guide began leading the way toward the tower, we followed closely behind. Annabeth bumped Thalia's shoulder. "That was impressive," she told her. Thalia smirked.

From next to me Amber looked confused, and I could tell she was trying her best not to ask what was going on. "Don't worry," I found myself whispering to her. "I only learned about Mist manipulation a few years ago. It only works on mortals."

Amber slowly nodded taking in the new information. "That's… amazing."

"Comes in handy," Nico agreed, obviously listening into our conversation.

The tour guide led us up to a large gate entrance. He fidgeted around with the set of tags and keys from his pocket for a minute before successfully unlocking the gate. As soon as the heavy gates swung open, I knew we had already faced our next problem. We couldn't have the tour guide coming in with us.

Thalia seemed to realize this before I did, because she cleared her throat loudly. "On second thought, I think we may have forgotten a few more people that were supposed to come on the tour," she announced.

The man frowned, and I knew he was wracking his brain trying to remember the list of people assigned to the _actual_ tour. Thalia interrupted him before he could collect his memories. "Right there," she said, pointing to a random group of people strolling by the tour sign. "You give us the keys, and we'll lock the gate back up while you go fetch them." Thalia held out her hand.

The tour guide looked between Thalia and the group of people in the distance. Normally, a person in charge of the keys to something as significantly important as Big Ben wouldn't give up them up to a teenage girl under any circumstances whatsoever. But as I watched Thalia's fierce blue gaze cut into the tour guide, he looked extremely confused. It was as if we had just woken him up from deep sleep and told him we were in the year 2052.

"Hurry!" Thalia pressed. "It won't look very professional if their tour guide is late, now will it?"

That did the trick. Without a second thought, the tour guide did the stupidest thing I had ever witnessed. He dropped the keys into Thalia's palm, pulling up his pants before running off in the direction of the family while waving and hollering to get their attention.

"Now!" Annabeth said quickly, holding the gate open as we all hurried inside. Once we all stood inside the clock tower, I helped get the gate securely closed as Thalia made sure it was locked from the inside. Motion sensory lights lit up the room.

"Don't you think he'll have a spare set of keys?" Annabeth asked.

Thalia waved her hand, unconcerned. "In a few minutes, when the Mist wears off, he'll barely even remember this happened. He'll be looking for his keys desperately."

I didn't notice where we really were, until Amber said, "Wow." She had walked forward and was staring directly upwards.

All the way to the very top, nearly three hundred feet up, a spiral staircase swirled against the walls of the tower. Nico immediately flared up. "There is no way we are walking up all of those!" he complained.

Annabeth swallowed. "Three hundred and thirty four steps look like a lot more when you're actually looking at them."

"Three _hundred_ thirty four?" Nico spat, staring at Annabeth accusingly as if he was angry that she knew the number of steps all along and chose not to say anything. "I'd rather just use shadow travel to get us to the top," he said, putting his hands together to concentrate his energy.

"Stop, Nico!" Annabeth said at the same time I stepped forward to break apart his hands.

"_What_?" Nico said, annoyed.

"You need to save your energy for whatever is supposed to happen when we get up there," I told him.

I could tell Thalia was enjoying the show from behind me. "Shadow travel isn't the answer to everything," she said, having no trouble matching his death glare with her own.

The next time I looked towards Amber, she had already found the start of the stair case, climbing up on the first few steps. "It's this way," she called out to us.

Seeing Amber, Nico seemed to drop his shoulders, exhaling. "How hard can it be?" he mumbled.

The five of us made our way up the first hundred steps quickly, without pauses and without speaking. We were focused to get to the top. A platform began to come into view just a few steps later; it was a fairly small area the size of a hallway that circled all the way around the tower. I didn't realize the numb feeling in my legs until we finally stopped, reaching the platform and stopping to look around.

"This used to be a prison room," Annabeth noted, looking at the windows on the side walls. "They turned this part into a museum." On the wall, a large framed poster hung listing information about the tower.

"How does Annabeth know all of this?" Nico said from beside me, just loud enough for me to hear.

I sighed. "Trust me; you should have seen how much she knew about The London Eye."

Nico raised an eyebrow. "The London Eye?"

I shut up, remembering the last thing I wanted was to tell the others about our little ride. "Nothing," I muttered.

We started up the stairs again at a slightly slower pace this time. Ten minutes seemed like ages as we made it to the next platform after the next hundred steps. This time, none of us could speak as we realized what we were looking at. We were standing directly behind one of the giant clock faces.

According to Annabeth, we were looking at three hundred and twelve pieces of white glass that made up the dial. A ticking sound could be heard every other second. On a gray wall behind us, rows and rows of light bulbs were arranged so that they could light up the clock during the night.

"It's beautiful," Amber said, summing up what I was sure everyone was thinking as we stared at the seemingly fragile glass.

We continued down the hallway, seeing three other identical clock faces before we finally came to a closed door. Thalia already began touching her pocket where she had put the set of keys, but Annabeth walked right up the door. "It's open," she said turning the knob.

Inside, a bunch of motors and machinery moved constantly like a factory. We moved across the room, careful not to touch anything. In the corner, a set of five cogs and gears, large and small, rotated against each other. Then, in the center, a glimpse of the top of the pendulum could be seen swinging slowly from right to left. Stacks of pennies and coins rested around the rim of the top platform of the pendulum.

"The famous pennies," Annabeth said, smiling to herself. "I read about this in a magazine once. The clock keeper can add these coins to speed it, and takes some off to slow it down."

Nico scrunched his nose. "This is too much educational information to take in."

Annabeth sighed, rolling her eyes as we found our way to another door that led us back to the staircase. We continued on our way up, all of us feeling a bit sore at this point. When we were half way up, Amber began slowing down. I looked back at her. "You okay?"

Her eyes locked into mine for a second, and I saw just the slightest bit of unease. She swallowed, quickly collecting herself. "Yes," she said continuing at our pace.

"I can see it," Annabeth called back as she sprinted up to the front. "Big Ben!"

I remembered earlier when Annabeth had explained the name Big Ben actually referred to the thirteen and a half ton bell at the top. We were close.

It wasn't long before we had finally reached the belfry. The staircase ended; it was as far as up as we could get, walking up all three hundred and thirty four steps. A narrow room greeted us, with a huge window towards the back wall, allowing sun to pour in through the frame.

As soon as we were up, Amber shifted on her feet. "I can feel it," she said.

"What's the matter?" Annabeth frowned. "Do you sense something? Is Hecate here?"

Amber shook her head. "She _was_."

Thalia cursed under her breath. "We're late."

Next to us, behind a thick wired net, the enormous bell hung in front of two smaller bells. Its golden bronze material shimmered. A type of hammer was attached to each bell, which would come forward to trigger their ringing sound. Annabeth looked like she had just remembered something. "It's almost noon," she said.

Nico blinked. "So?"

"That's when the bell rings," Annabeth told us, clearly disturbed.

Before, Nico could ask why that was a problem, I took a step forward in the room. Immediately, the floor beneath us began to rumble, and I felt the presence of some kind of powerful being. It wasn't the sense of monsters; it was something greater. "Maybe we're not so late," I said slowly, stepping back. It was as if I had suddenly triggered something by walking forward in the room.

What happened next was something none of us were expecting. Out of thin air, several swords and bloody spears appeared all around the room as if they had been summoned by someone. They floated in the air by themselves, without any hands to hold them up or anyone to control them.

"Get down," Annabeth warned, and I knew everyone behind me had jumped into position. I could hear Thalia pulling out her bow and arrow, Annabeth standing guard with his bronze knife, Nico pulling out his stygian iron sword, and Amber with her right hand out ready to use her magic.

Without really thinking, I uncapped Riptide, feeling it grow in my hand. The next thing I knew, I had launched forward, swinging Riptide toward the nearest sword. Without anything to control the weapon, it came forward by itself, clashing with Riptide in midair with a powerful force. I planted my feet on the ground steadily to withstand the pressure it came at me with.

Behind me, Thalia had activated her shield, Aegis.

By launching forward and making the first move, I was testing our new enemies. I confirmed that there were no invisible beings holding up the weapons; they were truly controlling themselves.

The sword against Riptide pulled back, coming at me again, hard, and I slashed in the air. "Stay back," I told the others through gritted teeth as best as I could. "I'll need back up."

Annabeth and Thalia obviously knew what I was getting at as they remained in the background. With my invulnerability, it only made sense that they send me out to fight while they stayed at a distance.

I swung at the flying sword again with as much force as I could manage, standing my ground. The only downside to not having an enemy control the weapons was that I couldn't kick or try to stab at anything. I could only clash Riptide with the blade of the sword.

The other swords and spears weren't standing around as they launched behind me. In no time, I heard Annabeth knife and Nico's sword coming in contact with the floating weapons. A spear clashed against Thalia's shield as she shoved it back. Amber held out her hand, releasing a puff of purple smoke, which began swirling all around her ring. It was enough to hold back a sword just by one motion of her finger.

A second sword came at me, both of them slashing at me with great speed and power. I was swinging Riptide up, down, left, and right, managing to keep up with the weapons. I felt pressure on my arm when one of the swords came in contact with my skin, but the blade immediately rebounded off as if I was made of metal. I swung hard another time, causing one of the swords to finally go flying as it fell to the floor. It didn't move again.

Behind me, Nico stabbed his stygian iron sword into the floor. The feeling of death and darkness floated through the room, and I was sure the floor had cracked open as Nico summoned an army of skeletons. The skeletons, waving their own swords, were able to come forward beside me and attack the way I was.

I managed to slash down on one of the blades of another sword hard enough to push it to the floor. Once it touched the ground, it didn't move again just like the other one. Just for a second, as I stared at the sword by my feet, I was able to notice a symbol engraved into the sword's hilt. It was the image of a boar - the sign of the god of war. Suddenly, the bloody spears - also a symbol for Ares - made a lot more sense.

I plunged forward, slicing right through the wooden handle of another spear. It snapped in half as it fell to the ground, leaving blood dribbling down on the floorboard.

Next to me, Nico's army of skeletons had taken care of quite a few weapons. Black shadows and smoke whirled around their decayed bones.

When I glance back, Amber's magic had grew a darker shade of purple as it surrounded her. She breathed steadily, moving her fingers in a way that caused a ripple of wind to erupt, circling the floating sword like a tornado and pulling it to the floor.

Annabeth and Thalia were both fighting with the same ferocity, taking care of the weapons that had managed to get past me. Annabeth held her bronze knife with both hands, forcing a sword towards the metal net next to her.

One of Thalia's arrows went flying past me with just the perfect aim to deflect off the blade of a sword. I finished it off, slashing down at it with Riptide.

We were doing pretty well, until something seemed to catch all of us off guard. From next to us, the loud sound of a chime sounded three times.

"The bell!" Annabeth said over the sound of the musical ring and our clashing weapons. "Try to cover your ears! We're not even supposed to be here without ear protectors," she warned.

Without warning, the hammer of the bell came forward causing the bell to ring loudly. It was a deep, low sound, making the whole tower vibrate.

There were only one more sword and a couple bloody spears left hovering in front of me, and I caught my breath. The bell rang continuously, three times, four, five. The sound went right to my head, as if something was drumming down on my brain. I tried to concentrate on countering the weapons left standing.

Knowing that the others were covering their ears as best as they could, I knew I couldn't let any of the weapons get past me while they were off guard. The bell rang again and again, six times, sever, eight. I slashed one of the spears to the ground, the blood staining Riptide's blade as it crashed to the floor.

The other spear and sword seemed to come at me both at once. The sound of the bell vibrated against every bone in my body. From next to me, the remaining skeletons had crumbed to the ground, not able to withstand the sound waves going in every direction. It rang again, nine times now, ten, eleven.

With one last swing, I slashed Riptide through the air with both of my hands. The sword clashed against the spear itself, both of them falling to the ground with a clatter. The bell rang for the final time - the twelfth time - signaling noon.

When I looked back at the others, they looked just as worn out. They took their hands off their ears slowly, uncovering them now that the ringing had stopped.

"Is it over?" Amber asked, breaking the silence.

Thalia took a steady breath. "I think so."

I caught my breath, bringing the tip of Riptide to the pen's cap, watching it shrink back.

"Are you okay?" Annabeth asked me, coming forward. I was the only one who hadn't covered my ears, and the effect seemed to shake me now that it was over. My head hammered, and my ears felt like they were still ringing. The floor under me still felt like it was pounding. I was surprised my ear drums hadn't exploded.

Before I could answer Annabeth, something strange started happening again. This time, the feeling was different - less powerful but sharper.

When I turned, looking ahead towards the window in the room and the sun's blinding rays, the image in front of me started to change slowly. The walls looked as if they were melting and the floor beneath me turned into stone. When I looked back, the others were suddenly gone. It was just me in a dark and narrow pathway - all alone.

Candles mounted on the dark walls lit the way. I had no choice but to walk forward, running my fingers along one of the walls in the dark. I walked until I finally came to a turn. In front of me were two paths, making me stop in my tracks. Which one was I supposed to choose? It reminded me of the Labyrinth, but it was different in a way. This place was meant for torture and death. It felt too much like an illusion. I slid my fingers across the rigid walls as I went forward, choosing the path of the left.

Out of nowhere, I heard laughter echoing through the halls. It was laughter I recognized immediately. I caught a glimpse of a girl; just her back with her golden curls hanging lose over her shoulders. The voice fit the image: it was Annabeth.

"Annabeth?" I called, quietly at first. She started walking farther down the hall into the darkness. I followed her. "_Annabeth_," I said louder.

She heard me this time, barely letting me see her face. Annabeth laughed again, sounding absolutely carefree and happy.

"Wait, Annabeth," I said, not realizing when we had both started running. I chased her down different pathways, around sharp turns, and down dark corridors. I didn't know when I had let myself lose sight of her, but she was quickly growing out of my view.

I made a turn straight into a dead end, feeling my heart pound. "Annabeth!" I called.

I turned and went the other way, not expecting it when a creature came at me. I slashed with Riptide almost immediately, continuing to run down the hallways trying to find her. It was no use.

Every other turn I made was a dead end or pitch black tunnel. Creatures came at me from every angle. In the dark, in this maze, I wasn't invulnerable anymore. I had the memory that I had already died, but I kept coming back. I kept walking the same paths over and over until I couldn't take it anymore.

"_Annabeth_!" My scream echoed endlessly.

I had lost her.

**…Thalia…**

I was surrounded by trees, my bow drawn with an arrow in place, ready to shoot. Despite the fact that I knew I had just been in Big Ben not moments ago, this felt right, this felt normal. Big Ben was weeks ago, a distant memory. Now I was on the hunt, sent out alone ahead of my fellow sister Hunters to check and see if the path was clear, but there were sounds coming from all around me.

Suddenly, from my right, a hellhound flew out of the shadows of the trees. Sharp teeth glinted in the sunlight just barely filtering through the leaves above, and claws honed to a point were aimed at my heart. My bow flew up before I was even conscious of the well-practiced motion, fingers letting loose my arrow right between the two rows of teeth. The black hellhound burst into dust, a light wind suddenly blowing to sweep it away.

Before I could even reach for another arrow from my quiver, a telekhine just like the ones Kronos used in the war came charging towards me. Behind this one, I could hear others getting closer, bushes rustling and twigs cracking. It was all I could do to take a step back while pulling three arrows from my quiver.

Nocking one in my bow, I hit the first telekhine right in the forehead, not even pausing to see if it hit before preparing another arrow. Unfortunately, the golden-bronze dust the monster exploded into hid the next two telekhines from my vision until they were jumping at me from just five feet in front of me.

Startled, I barely held in a scream while dropping my bow, holding onto the two arrows in my right hand. I fell to the ground, my chin tucked in so that my head wouldn't hit the ground even as I let out a breath, forced out of me from the blow to my back. The telekhines, joined by three more, were laughing gleefully at the sight of the great daughter of Zeus on the ground, at their mercy. It made me angry, especially because I was anything but out of this fight.

Before they could even blink, I lunged forward, pushing off the ground with my hands. My right fist raised, arrows still held in it, I swung it around, allowing the Celestial Bronze tips to slash three telekhines across the chest. While it didn't kill them yet, they were screaming in pain and holding their new wounds and backing away a bit, distracting their comrades enough for me to reach my bow and move quickly backwards, away from them.

"Daughter of Zeus, you will die now," the sea creatures hissed together as they turned to face me, the three wounded ones with scrunched faces thanks to the pain.

I didn't even waste my breath answering as I instinctively placed my arrow in its place on my bow, pulling back on the taut string before letting the arrow fly. My practiced aim held true as the arrow lodged itself into where the heart would be on a human, turning one of the healthy telekhines into dust and allowing my arrow to clatter to the ground.

All of those thoughts came to my mind due to my ADHD even as I prepared and fired another arrow at the other healthy telekhine, killing it as well. The final three looked very worried, having felt the sting of my arrows already, but I didn't give them a chance to do anything else, easily pulling out and killing them with three arrows, all launched at the same time.

"_You've done better, Thalia Grace, much better,_" a voice I've only heard a handful of times before whispered in my ear: my father's. "_I expected more of you._"

"_I chose you to replace Zoë as my lieutenant because I felt you would do as well as her, if not better, yet this is all you can do after almost two years on the Hunt?_" Lady Artemis demanded in my other ear.

"_Oh, Thalia, we both know you should never have been thrown to the ground in that fight! Have you gotten lazy since we last sparred together all those years ago?_" Luke asked in disappointment, and I could picture the thirteen-year-old who trained with me shaking his head sadly, blue eyes gazing into mine as his blond hair flew around. "_You can do better!_"

"_Come now, Thalia, try this again and see if you can't get it down better,_" Chiron encouraged, but I could hear his sadness at my failure to take down the telekhines as easily as I did just weeks before. "_Learn from your mistakes._"

A large Cyclops suddenly crushed some of the trees to my left, a Celestial Bronze mace held in its hands as it charged full-speed towards me. My shock quickly bled away as all those months training with Luke, then at camp, and finally with the Hunters came back to me, prompting me to jump to my right. The Cyclops ran past me but quickly realized what I had done and spun around just in time to accept an arrow to the arm and another to the leg.

With a roar of pain, the Cyclops again charged at this time, but it was swifter than I had expected, and I didn't have a chance to pull an arrow from my quiver. Instead, I dropped my bow and jumped onto the outstretched arm, taking care to dodge the mace. Running up the arm to its head, I pulled one of my hunting knives from its sheath on my thigh, stabbing the Celestial Bronze right into the huge eye staring at me. Once that was done, I pulled the knife out of its eye even as I leapt into the air so that I could fall into a roll and jump to my feet.

That had been a move similar to one I pulled during the Battle of Manhattan, and I had done it just as efficiently as I had then. Dust was all that was left from my maneuver, proof of my success.

"_Still not good enough,_" my father hissed. "_I expected that move to be done even swifter after seeing you use it in that battle, not only just as good. My children must be the best of the best, not my brother's!_"

"_You shouldn't have frozen at all, Thals,"_ Luke chastised. "_We both know that you could have killed that Cyclops with your bow if you had just been ready for it rather than allowing yourself to be surprised by its speed. Not your best fight by a long shot._"

"Stop it! Just _stop it_!" I yelled, covering my ears with my hands, though I kept my eyes wide open. "You're lying! Everything I've done so far has been good enough!"

"_Perhaps it's good enough for you, and for other demigods, but we expect better from you, Thalia Grace,_" Zeus muttered in my ear.

Screaming in frustration, I ran to grab my bow and pulled out three arrows, firing them at and killing the Minotaur before it even registered in my mind what monster it was. Spinning around at the sound of a twig snapping, I shot another arrow straight through the eye of an Empousa before I had even fully finished my turn, another arrow flying after the first just as I finished the spin.

More and more monsters followed, my arrows making the air sing with their speed and intensity as they flew to fill the air with gold-bronze dust. All the while, voices were whispering in my ear, voices of those I wanted to make the most proud – Lady Artemis, Chiron, my father, _Luke…_ – all of them informing me that it wasn't good enough, that I could do so much better. Screams were wrenched from my throat as I spun around, arrows glinting in the little sunlight of the small clearing I had moved to, monsters crying out in pain before dissipating in the wind as dust.

Anger set my blood pumping, beginning to cover up my hearing so that I was relying more on my eyes than my ears to find the monsters, yet the voices never left, never lost their intensity, never lowered in volume. No matter what I did, I couldn't escape the voices, couldn't run from the failure I never wanted to be told about. They followed me everywhere, jumping with me when I fought a giant and needed to use the same maneuver as before, running up the arm of it to cut its throat with both my hunting knives. Those accursed voices wouldn't leave me alone, even when I ran out of arrows and allowed my quiver and bow to disappear while pulling out my spear and Aegis, switching to slightly closer combat.

Finally, my mind began to realize something. These moves I had been pulling would have gotten me praise from Chiron and Luke and even Lady Artemis a few times, and I suspected my father would have joined in had he not had those laws to follow. The words spoken by those voices had less of an impact on me, slowly but surely, and they began to quiet. My blood ceased its pounding in my ears, and I realized I was panting and hurt and tired and shouldn't be moving anymore, let alone feeling as if I could keep going. For some reason, it was as if this was just an illusion, not really what my body was doing.

The moment that thought crossed my mind, I blinked, and I was suddenly in Big Ben again, with its metal surrounding me. Amber was on the ground, her knees pulled to her chest and her arms holding them there, but her eyes were focused and looking around the area. Nico stood near her, his eyes closed, fists clenched, face in a scowl, and muttering something about a Minos, obviously still in whatever that vision had been. Annabeth and Percy were off to the side a bit, Percy holding Annabeth while she still stood in her vision. Percy's eyes met mine, and I could see the pain and despair in them as he glanced down at the blond in his arms, but all I could do was grimace in his direction, knowing he would understand that we couldn't help her this time, yet again.

Turning back to Amber, I walked over to her and sat down beside her, putting an arm around her shoulders. She leaned into me just like most of the younger hunters who had only joined us during the preparation for the war did when they needed to be comforted. Amber's eyes were still watching Nico struggle to fight his way out of whatever he was seeing, but her arms loosened a little bit around her legs, allowing both appendages to move and blood to flow more easily.

"He'll be okay," I whispered in her ear, looking at the son of Hades I had known for almost two years now. Amber finally looked up at me in surprise, and I gave her a sad smile. "Nico's strong; he'll pull through. Death boy's been through worse. Just give him time."

"I know," Amber replied just as quietly, her voice a bit sad as she turned to look at him. "It's just hard, knowing the emotional pain is real but being caused by something so fake, and I can't even help him, not with my magic or anything else. I've been watching all of you for the past fifteen minutes, fighting to get out of the visions, but nothing I did helped, so I just had to wait."

"You tried, Amber, but this is something we all had to do on our own," I sighed, recognizing the strength in the girl beside me. To be able to watch one's friends in pain, unable to help in any way, and still have the presence of mind to sit back and allow them to fight for themselves was an amazing thing. "They'll come out of it soon enough. Let's search for that artifact Annabeth mentioned."

Amber nodded slowly and stood once I had removed my arm from around her, methodically looking around the area. Together, we split up and began searching every nook and cranny of this place, looking for anything that might be Greek. I was about to give it up as a lost cause after searching three times, the final time together, when Amber suddenly gasped quietly, her eyes a bit surprised.

"The artifact is hidden beneath some of my mother's magic, adding to the Mist that was already there," she informed me quietly, not wanting to disturb the others. "Because she came here, the protection around it got a little bit stronger, or at least the Mist portion did."

As Amber spoke, she reached into a small gap in the metal, pulling out what appeared to be a gold necklace made up of small braids of gold, pendants showing Aphrodite, a dove, a heart, and other symbols of the goddess of love interwoven into it. It was beautiful craftsmanship, possibly taking a few weeks to make it with how much detail it had, and it looked as if it had just been completed yesterday. Of course, just after I had gotten a good look at the necklace, it began to glow and change shape, expanding and filling in the gaps left by the necklace until it was a single, smooth, very slightly rounded piece of silver and gold metal, with a bit of bronze mixed in as well. All I could do was blink in surprise before I realized the Mist had been making whatever this was a piece of look like a Greek necklace.

"Well, that was interesting," I stated a bit sarcastically, holding my hand out for the metal once Amber had finished examining it. The daughter of Hecate nodded in agreement while I lightly brushed my fingers over the metal, finding no dents at all on its smooth surface, and even the sides where it was slightly jagged as if it had been broken felt smooth, no points to hurt anyone as they were all rounded. "And this metal… there's something odd about it."

"It's powerful," Amber whispered softly, her voice sounding almost awed as she stared at it. "There's so much power in it, just waiting to be released." She reached out to touch whatever this was again, but something in Amber's eyes worried me, and I pulled the metal away from her, snapping my fingers in front of her face with my other hand. Amber blinked and shook her head, coming back to herself and backing away quickly. "I'm sorry, but I probably shouldn't touch that anymore. The power in it is so very addictive if you can feel it…"

"Then it's probably not completely safe in Thalia's hands either," Annabeth noted, and I turned to see both she and Nico had escaped their visions and were watching the by-play between Amber and me with Percy. She must have seen my indignant look because she gave me a hard look. "You know as well as I do that power is your fatal flaw, Thalia, so don't you dare try to argue with me. We'll keep this in my pack, okay?"

Sighing and giving Annabeth one of my stronger glares, I gave her the metal, knowing she wasn't wrong. If not for Percy, I might have helped Kronos destroy Olympus two years ago just for the power he was offering, and I knew it. With something like this, full of power that entranced the daughter of Hecate, I knew I had better keep it away from me as best I could until I could be sure I had control over myself around it.

"What is it?" Nico wondered aloud, glancing at the metal while Annabeth and Percy studied it before placing it in Annabeth's pack. "I mean, we know it's powerful, but what is it?"

"A piece of an artifact that Athena told us to keep an eye out for," Percy told him. "What I'm more curious about is what that vision thing was." I saw Percy shudder at the memory of whatever had happened.

"Let's get out of here before figuring that out," I suggested, not really wanting to think about that vision that had been slowly driving me insane before I began to realize it wasn't real, wasn't true.

No one disagreed.

* * *

**We apologize for posting this late. Things have been hectic for both of us in our lives, and unfortunately, this fell to the back of our minds. We'll work not to let it happen again, and we'll post again this Sunday. We hope you're enjoying the story so far and continue to do so. :)  
**


	9. Chapter 9

**…Percy…**

We fled Big Ben as fast as we could.

A wave of exhaustion had set in with all of us from the fighting and mental trauma we had just endured. Whatever had just happened had seemed to attack our bodies first and then go right for our minds. Despite how we were felt, the five of us sprinted down the steps of the tower as if it were about to explode any second. It was an understatement to say we all wanted to get out of there as soon as possible.

I didn't know if it was only me, but the tower still seemed to shake underneath my feet like it did when the bells signaled noon. A slight ringing remained echoing through my ears, making my head throb as we finally made it out of the tower.

The bright sun greeted us outside, an unpleasant contrast from being in the dark and sheltered rooms of the tower.

We were so busy catching our breaths that we hardly seemed to notice that a large group of people stood not too far from us, a few staring at us. A different tour guide was facing the group, speaking about something informational. It was clear that they were about to begin a tour of Big Ben, and I knew that we had made it out just in time.

Thalia was the first to turn away, starting out toward the streets. We followed quickly, and I could tell that Thalia didn't have the energy to manipulate the Mist again for such a large group if we were questioned. As we hurried away, I could hear the tour guide from behind us. He seemed to notice us walking out from the direction of the gate, and he called after us. "Hey, wait!" he hollered. "Did you kids just come out of the tower?"

We didn't stop walking until we were as far away from Westminster Palace as possible. Nico exhaled loudly as we stopped at a stoned sidewalk by some old buildings. "I know what the next headline for the global newspaper is going to be," he said in between heavy breaths. "_Five maniac kids murder tour guide to sneak into Big Ben for an educational experience."_

Annabeth gave Nico a dismissing look. "We've got bigger problems," she said, collecting herself. "I mean, what in the world _was_ all of that?"

An uneasy silence sunk in between all of us. I was sure that none of us knew where the floating weapons or visions had come from, and it left all of us a confused and frightened.

"Whatever is was," Thalia said, "we should get somewhere safer before talking about it."

"Should we go back to the hotel?" Amber offered.

As we stood there, I found myself shaking my head. "No, not the hotel," I said. Near us, I could feel the slow current of water flowing. I remembered the Thames River just a few streets away from us, and it was almost as if my sixth sense was telling me what we had to do. "There's a ship waiting," I announced, surprising even myself. "We have to go east."

We found our way to the border of Thames River easily. Ships and smaller boats traveled through the water, carrying tourists.

"Over there," Annabeth pointed. A medium sized ship with an all white exterior stood alone, away from all the other boats lined along the dock. A black trident was printed on the ship's hull.

We passed by fisherman and ship captains giving us strange looks as we boarded our ride. Inside, the ship was roomier than our last one with a control room cabin in the front and a large seating area in the back.

I didn't wait, entering the cabin and taking control of the wheel and the switches on the panels. I had never controlled a ship this large before, but the knowledge seemed to come to me without even trying. In my head, various locations zoomed through my mind as usual until I got a clear image of where we were. Being at sea seemed to tame my exhaustion for just a second as I summoned my energy to will the currents to sail us along Thames River into the Atlantic. We would have to sail around the tip of Britain and deeper into Europe.

After I was sure the ship had picked up a steady pace and was set on its route, I exited the cabin to find Nico, Amber, Thalia and Annabeth sitting together in silence. We were all thinking, too shaken to speak.

As I sat down, it surprised me when Amber broke the silence. "That wasn't Hecate," she said quietly.

Annabeth frowned slowly. "What do you mean?"

"Whatever the weapons and hallucinations were up there, it wasn't Hecate's doings. That's not how my mother's magic would work or feel. The attack was from something else," she said, confidently.

Annabeth was shaking her head when I remembered snippets of the bloody spears and the picture of the boar on the swords. "Amber's right," I said.

"How could that be?" Annabeth said at loss. "Who could be attacking us?"

I told the others about the symbol of the boar and how the bloody spears fit in. "It's the symbol of Ares."

Thalia shifted uncomfortably. "I noticed that, too," she admitted. "And the visions… they had to be from another god. But who?"

"Dionysus," Annabeth said carefully. "It had to be. The power to lure you into madness, it's a specialty that belongs to Dionysus."

Nico looked outraged. "So the gods are trying to kill us now?"

Annabeth had been taking all of this in, and she seemed to sigh. "Not exactly," she said thoughtfully. "The artifact may have had something to do with it. It's very possible that we triggered a type of protection force from the gods. It was probably set up thousands of years ago when all of these pieces of the object scattered around in different places. The gods must have created those to protect it."

Thalia had the same expression as me, and I knew that there were too many things that didn't make sense. A part of me was telling me that we had to keep going, tracking Hecate and finding the artifacts to put together an object, until it would start making sense.

Amber looked almost startled by all of this, and I couldn't help but feel a little bad knowing this was her very first quest. It was the first time she was experiencing something as difficult as running for our lives constantly and being tortured by so many different things from monster to visions that attacked straight for the soul.

I found myself mumbling, "It would have been helpful if Athena had warned us about the protections."

…

Hours may have passed as we sailed out of the Thames River and way past London. I readjusted our route from time to time, feeling a strong pull through my hands as I shifted the oceans currents under me.

Everyone was quiet, definitely not talking as much as we normally would have, and I knew that there were hundreds of thoughts on all of our minds.

As much as I didn't want to admit it, the memories of the vision I had seen still bothered me more than the remaining headache. I had been trying to block out those thoughts, but it was no use as I leaned over the ships railing, staring out at the water.

The thoughts in my head were as restless as the waves, and I finally couldn't take it anymore as I walked away, looking around for where the others were. Towards the back, a low door was unlatched and a small light shone downstairs. I could see a very brief set of stairs leading into a very small basement area on the ship. I didn't know who was down there, but I found myself going down to explore. I was surprised to find Annabeth sitting in the basement all alone.

"Annabeth?" I said just loud enough to get her attention.

She looked startled when she noticed me. "How long have you been standing there?"

"Barely a second," I told her, honestly. "What are you doing down here by yourself?"

Annabeth brushed the hair out of here face. "Sorry, were you looking for me? I didn't realize how long I had been here."

"The ship's going in the right direction now, so I thought I'd see who was down here," I told her. Annabeth nodded, still looking like she wanted to be alone. I didn't know what she was thinking about, but I tested my chances as I asked, "Can I join you?"

"Yeah," she said after a second, scooting her legs in so I could sit down. The area below was very compact, probably a storage area. Seats were built into the wall on both sides.

I sat down across from Annabeth in the tight space and our knees pushed against each others. A single light bulb hung from the low ceiling, letting me see her face. In the dark, Annabeth gripped my hand; our fingers laced together as they rested on top of our knees.

"How's your headache?" Annabeth asked me. "The bells must have been ten times louder to you since you couldn't cover your ears."

I found myself playing with her hand, running my hand along each of her fingers. "It'll go away," I said. "Besides, that wasn't the worst part."

Annabeth seemed to know what I was talking about because a deep silence set in. We were both thinking about the terrible visions we had seen during Dionysus's protection.

"I wasn't expecting it," she admitted. "I mean, not something that strong to play with our minds like that this early into the quest."

As I thought about it, I knew that I would never be ready to see something like that whether it was expected or not. "It scared me," I said, not realizing where it had suddenly come from.

Annabeth's hands felt warm as she brushed them against mine. "Percy," she whispered. "What did you see?"

Our eyes locked, and I found myself holding her hand tighter. I remembered the feeling of running through the dark maze, being tortured and dying. But that hadn't been the worst part. The worst part was being stripped of something that I cared about the most. For a while, in the maze, I had completely lost Annabeth, and it scared me more than I had let myself think about.

"It was a maze, kind of like the labyrinth," I started telling her. "I was running, and you were slipping from me."

Annabeth pressed her knee against mine harder. "_I_ was in it?"

"I was chasing you," I explained. "But you kept getting away. Eventually, I couldn't see any of you. I didn't know where you were, Annabeth."

There was silence for a while, except for the sounds of someone walking above us and the water gurgling against the ship's walls. I didn't know how long we sat there, our hands in each others. A part of me wanted to ask Annabeth what she had seen, but I knew better than to push her. I wasn't expecting it when Annabeth started telling me on her own. "What I saw wasn't any better," she admitted. "It's always about _choices_."

I thought back to Janus, the two faced god, and how he had tortured Annabeth to make a decision. Being a daughter of Athena, I knew choices were one of the hardest things for her. She fought between logic and desire.

"Hey, it's alright," I said, seeing the look on her face as she remembered what she had been shown. "You don't have to talk about it."

Annabeth shook her head, staring at our hands tangled together. "I want to tell you," she said, looking up to meet my eyes. Annabeth swallowed as I waited for her to continue. "There were two pathways. I saw two people. It drove me insane, Percy."

I leaned forward, closer to her, brushing her hand with my thumb. "You had to choose between the two people?" I asked her, trying to understand.

She nodded, not breaking her gaze with me. "It wasn't easy. Behind one person there was everything I could have asked for. I could see happiness, power, safety- everything."

Annabeth carried on painting the perfect picture behind this one person, and I frowned.

"What was it that drove you insane?"

Annabeth's voice got shakier. "There was another pathway," she told me. "Behind the other person there was darkness. I could see death and pain, and some of the most terrible things that I've felt before. My friends dying, destruction, torture, losses…"

The things Annabeth was talking about were all too familiar in our lives. I could relate all too well, and it was like a cold rod poking me as Annabeth explained all the darkness behind the other pathway. I nodded, understanding how horrible it was to witness loss and pain.

"But there's more," Annabeth said. "I could see who the two people were."

I watched Annabeth closely for a second before speaking. It was like there was something still bothering Annabeth terribly. "Who were they?" I asked her, nearly whispering.

"Luke," Annabeth said, her voice fighting to stay steady. "Luke was one of them. There was safety behind him. And the other person… it was you, Percy."

I couldn't help but stare at her as she said that. My mouth suddenly felt dry. "So I belonged to the pathway of loss and death." It wasn't a question.

Annabeth shut her eyes tightly. "It drove me crazy, Percy. I had to make a choice. Luke offered me safety. But behind you, I would have to go through everything we faced during the war - all the pain and death."

It was stupid because my heart was pounding. What Annabeth was telling me wasn't even real, yet it had me upset and I didn't quite understand why it hurt. My throat burned as I talked. "Who'd you choose?"

As Annabeth stared at me, I suddenly had the feeling that I had never lost her back in that maze. She was just inches away from me. "It finally stopped when I realized I didn't have to make a choice. That was how I got out of it," Annabeth told me. She looked down at our hands. "I already made the choice a long time ago."

As our eyes locked, I knew that Annabeth felt satisfied to just get it all out. I wanted her to know that I trusted her.

In the darkness of the basement with just Annabeth and I alone, I kissed her. Annabeth didn't hold back. As I was kissing her, it felt like I was on a roller coaster going down one of the highest slopes. All I could think as I felt her lips was that I never had to feel what I had felt in that maze. She was still here. She was still mine.

**…Thalia…**

I was sitting atop the cabin of the ship again, looking out at the ocean and letting the sea breeze blow my hair away from my face, cooling me down and calming me like I had never been calmed around the ocean before. It was as if Lord Poseidon realized I needed to be calmed and was using his powers to assist my father's wind to let me breathe a little bit easier, to let me lose a bit of the tension in my body. Something like this had never happened before, but I wasn't complaining for one second.

Dionysus' vision had done a number on my mind. Those voices had brought forward many of my worries, my well-hidden fears of not being good enough. Despite all he had done, I still couldn't lose the image of Luke Castellan from while we were on the run together, when things weren't so complicated because we just had to survive and run and fight and try to enjoy ourselves, not fight a war and deal with quests from our fathers. We had been best friends, training partners, and I had always tried my best to impress him by improving.

His words, harsh and commanding more than I could even hope to give, had cut me deeply because I always feared that that would happen to me. If you then added in Chiron, who I respected for his knowledge and the pain I knew he must have gone through for millennia, and Lady Artemis and even my father, a person then had those I most wanted to impress and made proud. Having them tell me they had seen better, expected more from me, wanted me to give more than I could, had torn me apart in that vision. It's no wonder Dionysus was the god of madness if he could do that.

Now that I was in my right mind, thinking back on it, I could remember my sanity leaving me with each insult, with each monster killed, with each scream I allowed to escape my lips… Had it gone on for much longer, I would most likely have gone truly insane from that, and it hurt to acknowledge that because I did like power, to feel powerful, to feel as if something like that vision couldn't hurt me, even if it did terribly.

Taking a deep breath and letting it out slowly, I wiped away the tears that had formed at the memories of the vision, staring out at the sea and smiling very slightly as a dolphin jumped out of the water for a few moments before diving back in. Sea creatures had been drawn to our ship every time we were out at sea, obviously due to Percy and the powers he was using. It made watching around fun and interesting due to the antics of the fish.

"I was so scared," I suddenly heard Amber say from below, though it was quiet enough to be almost a whisper for me up here. Surprised, I looked down at the ship as saw her and Nico sitting, cross-legged, with their swords across their laps, on the deck. I had been so deep in my thoughts I hadn't even heard their sword practice stop for a break.

"Dionysus must have given everyone some good visions," Nico replied, and I moved forward, closer to the edge of the cabin, curiosity beating my fear of heights as long as I wasn't right at the edge, just to hear a bit better. "I've never seen Thalia so pale and withdrawn, and Annabeth and Percy are quieter."

"What might drive one person insane could do nothing to another," Amber stated. "I have a feeling whatever Dionysus did found one of the most personal things he could exploit to drive all of us insane. I know he did for me…" Both of them sighed, Nico's head leaning back to look up at the sky above us.

"I was surrounded by people I knew," he began slowly, and I realized he was sharing what he had seen, possibly to help himself and to get Amber to share what she had seen. "Bianca, my father, my mother, Percy, Annabeth, those I knew from camp – everyone. Then, one by one, they turned into the ghost of King Minos from Crete. Last summer, the one before the battle, I made some wrong choices, allowed anger and the thirst for revenge and a need for Bianca to come back to overcome me. I listened to Minos and did things I shouldn't have, and it was only Percy finding me that stopped me from going too far. In this vision, though, the ghosts of Minos all kept telling me that my actions would cause more trouble for those I loved, how Minos would make them regret ever caring for me. I couldn't escape him."

This story was at least partially new to me. I realized this was most likely how Nico had ended up in the labyrinth with Percy and Annabeth last summer, but I had never been told how that happened or why or what happened down there. I only knew the bare basics. Unfortunately, this seemed to be affecting Nico just as badly as it did a year ago – wounds that wouldn't heal easily, if at all.

"I don't know you or your friends very well, but I can already tell they like you because you're you, danger and son of Hades and all," Amber told him. "I know I already do."

"Really?" Nico asked, and I watched as Amber nodded. "Thanks." Amber shook her head to tell him it was no problem before turning to look up at the clouds. I could tell even from here that she was thinking hard about telling Nico what her vision had been, obviously pained by it.

"I haven't really spoken about my father to anyone, but I should probably start there," Amber finally sighed, looking back at Nico. "He was a magician who caught my mother's eye fourteen years ago, and he truly loved magic, so finding out that my mother was the goddess of magic was just amazing for him. Then my mother had me and gave both me and the ring to my father before leaving forever.

"I already told Thalia and Annabeth about my ring. It helps center my powers so that I can control them better – a focus. When I turned seven, I got my ring. All children of Hecate come into their powers on their seventh birthday. I remember wanting a second glass of milk at breakfast, but my dad wanted me to eat all of my food first. Instead, my glass floated across the table and into my hands. That was when he gave me the ring."

Amber sighed deeply and stood, walking over to the side of the boat, sheathing her sword so she could lean against the railing. Nico hesitated a moment before following, his own sword sheathed as well. They were silent for a bit, just looking out at the water, and I watched them quietly, not wanting to give away my presence or interrupt.

"My seventh birthday was the beginning of a large change in my life," Amber finally began again, still looking towards the sea, making her quiet voice even harder to hear, despite the fact that I was as close as I could get without my acrophobia acting up. "Once my powers woke up, I received my ring, and from then on, I was never allowed a single day to pass where I didn't train my magic up. Some days it would be levitating more and more objects, and others it would be creating things, and so on and so forth. Dad was a tough teacher who wanted only the best from me, often pushing me until I was exhausted. It helped in the long run by making my magic and my control of it that much better, but it was terrible at the time."

"Reminds me of my own father," Nico informed her. "Up until recently, nothing I did was good enough. Bianca was the child he wanted. If she had lived and I had died, he would have been pleased. If I did something, Bianca could have done it better, in his opinion."

"The war changed that?" Amber asked.

"Somewhat," Nico sighed. "He more proud of me for getting him respect from the other gods and goddesses, but he still pushes me." Amber nodded in understanding.

"My vision was my father challenging me to do magic against him, and he somehow had magic," Amber admitted. "I soon realized his magic was _my_ magic, and nothing I tried could get it back. He had stolen my magic somehow for revenge of some sort. It was terrible. Ever since I was seven, I've always had my magic – _always_. Not having it… It was a nightmare for me. Drove me insane trying to do as he asked like I always used to, but I just couldn't."

Amber's head had fallen so that her chin rested on her chest, eyes staring at the railing she was leaning on. I couldn't help but feel bad for her. Amber's vision almost reminded me of my own – being told to do something that she just couldn't do no matter how hard she tried. It was a very painful thing to go through emotionally.

I didn't wait to hear how Nico would comfort her. His arm had just moved to be around her shoulders as he pulled her closer to him, possibly whispering in her ear so that I wouldn't have been able to hear him anyway. Instead, I backed away silently, using the training I had gotten from the Hunters and Lady Artemis to stop any noises.

Once I was far enough away, I laid back so that I could look up at the darkening sky above, finding shapes in the clouds. Hopefully I would fall asleep so my memories wouldn't bother me and so this sea trip would pass more quickly. I needed to get off this boat so that I would have something to distract my thoughts with, and that meant sleeping the trip away.


	10. Chapter 10

**…Percy…**

It was almost dark by the time we could see land approaching.

The sunset was blazing over the horizon, and normally it would have been a breathtaking sight to take in from the ocean if we weren't so nervous about what to expect next. There was no telling what would happen the second we hit land.

I willed the waves to carry us to the shore. As we got closer to land, I could see the rocky and rigid coast.

Knowing that there would be no way for the ship to pull up on the coast, I got us as close as we could get before I willed the ocean to stand still. All around us, the waves suddenly flattened and the ocean resembled a plain sheet of glass.

Thalia began to glare at me, already knowing what I was thinking. "We have to get off here," I said, confirming Thalia's fear.

I couldn't help but notice Nico was just as annoyed as we gathered by the side of the ship. I helped Amber above the railing of the ship first where she grabbed hold of the ladder build into the ship's side. "Don't try to swim," I called to her as she neared the water. "Wait for us."

Annabeth was next over the rail and down the ladder.

Once Amber and Annabeth were safely keeping afloat in the water down below, Thalia took a sharp breath. "You are so going to pay for this," she whispered to me, keeping her glare steady.

"This is the best I could do," I argued as she reluctantly went over the side of the ship down the railing. I could tell Nico tried not to complain as he followed.

I was quick to join the rest of them below just a little after, not having any trouble carrying our backpacks down. The water was shallow and steady. I created a type of force field around the luggage I was carrying, protecting the contents inside from getting wet.

The pull of the ocean tingled at my fingertips as the current pulled us closer and closer to the rocky shore at my command. Once we were on the sand, Thalia shivered.

Large rocks and debris surround us, and I could tell we were on a natural beach of Spain. Our clothes were soaked from waist down, making everything feel heavier as we made our way across the beach. Wild grass met us shortly after as we carried on into the city.

"Where are we?" Amber asked. There were no signs of cars of any type of society nearby.

Annabeth brushed the hair out of her face. "We're probably just in a quiet part of the city. We'll find civilization if we keep walking."

Annabeth had been right, because as we kept walking, gravel roads met us quickly. In just another few yards, the signs of a town were evident. Rural markets and buildings stood along a stoned pavement.

As we approached, Nico cleared his throat. "So," he said, "anybody know any Spanish other than _hola_?"

We ignored Nico, walking up to the town. We probably looked like a bunch of hitchhikers with our soaked clothes, sandy shoes, and backpacks, but we hoped that we could at least find a place to rest or spend the night if we had to."

No sooner than we had been able to step foot on the stoned streets of the village, a low hissing sound was heard from behind us, sending chills down my spine. I turned slowly to see a familiar figure before me, one I had hoped never to see again. Claws extended from each of the four paws digging into the ground, body lowered in a position to pounce, and eyes narrowed, the sphinx was obviously still upset with Annabeth and me for what we did back in the Labyrinth.

"Annabeth Chase," she hissed, glaring at her. "It's time to finally get my revenge."

Before we could react, the sphinx pounced, and Annabeth just barely stumbled back far enough to avoid the claws swiping her way. I pulled out Riptide and spotted Nico with his sword and Thalia with her bow out through my peripherals. Together, we prepared to fight.

Silver arrows flew through the air, lodging themselves into the body of the sphinx and making her scream in pain, but the monster continued her attempts to attack Annabeth. Nico and I approached the sphinx from either side, but when we attempted to slice her, she jumped out of the way – _toward_ Annabeth, whose knife wasn't a strong enough defense for her in this situation. It was all Annabeth could do to dodge by throwing herself sideways.

"We need to distract it," Nico said as we yet again tried to attack the sphinx. I didn't understand why he had said that until I looked Annabeth's way once again and saw the glint of an idea in her gray eyes as she studied the sphinx.

"Okay," I agreed, before doing something that would most likely make Annabeth hit me later. I charged right in front of the sphinx and used Riptide to cut off the claws on one of the paws.

"You're _dead_, Perseus Jackson!" the sphinx growled, turning her attention toward me rather than the others. An arrow flew past my side and ended up in the front leg that I hadn't cut the claws off of, and another followed to lodge into the sphinx's side again. It didn't do anything but annoy the sphinx, but I could see that the monster was slowing down, slowly but surely, due to all of the arrows.

The sphinx threw herself at me, so quickly I couldn't move, and I found myself on my back with what felt like two tons on my body. Paws pressed against my chest kept me from moving, and sharp teeth were inches from my face. I still had Riptide in my hand, and I shifted my arm to stab it into the sphinx, but she felt the movement and used one paw to hold down my arm before kicking Riptide from my hand.

Ropes suddenly appeared around the neck of the sphinx, pulling her away from me. While the sphinx was still on me, it was only just. More arrows flew into the sphinx's side and legs and even a back paw. Annabeth's knife slid across the ground and hit my right hand. Without even glancing at what everyone around me was doing, I grabbed the knife and stabbed into the sphinx's stomach, just as a black blade did the same through her head. Screaming in pain, the sphinx turned to dust, the rope disappeared, and arrows dropped on top and around me.

Breathing heavily, I glanced around to see Annabeth kneeling next to Thalia and Amber. Thalia lowered her bow, and Amber twisted her ring back around her finger as the purple glow disappeared. Obviously Annabeth had knelt down to slide her knife to me and then stayed there. Nico, however, stood above me and offered his hand to help me stand, sword still held in his other hand. Taking the hand, I allowed him to help me up and then bent down to begin picking up Thalia's arrows.

"That was a stupid thing to do, Seaweed Brain," Annabeth said behind me, and I straightened and turned, knife held in one hand and arrows in the other.

"Yeah, but it worked, didn't it?" I held out her knife, and Annabeth took it with an eye roll, her lips twitching in amusement.

"He wouldn't be Kelp Head if he didn't do stupid things," Thalia added as she picked up the arrows I hadn't gotten before pulling the rest from my hand without seeming to care that I was holding them.

"Like you're one to talk," Annabeth said, but I could tell she was amused. Thalia's eyes narrowed, before she rolled her eyes and allowed her bow and quiver to disappear.

"What was up with that sphinx, anyway?" she asked. "I seemed like it wanted revenge."

"We met it in the Labyrinth, and Annabeth upset it," I said, and Annabeth narrowed her eyes at me. Raising my hands, I reminded her, "You did!"

"Annabeth must have been too smart for the sphinx," Nico said from beside Amber, his sword sheathed. "Anyway, we should get going. We weren't exactly _quiet_…"

"We'll camp tonight," Annabeth said. "Thalia, can you find us a good site?"

"Of course. Let's go look." At this moment, I could see the Lieutenant in Thalia as she turned and walked away from the town, most likely to find an isolated area. She seemed more confident than she normally was, like she did this a lot.

I guess I really didn't have any choice but to follow.

**…Thalia…**

I left my tent the next morning, turning to gaze at the moon that was still just barely visible as the sun began to rise in the east. Annabeth and I had spoken last night after we went into our tent. She had this theory that any time we went to a town, we'd most likely be met by monsters, but I wasn't sure. We had decided to test her theory once everyone was awake.

Our discussion had also brought up the fact that we didn't really have a way to track Hecate. Finding the artifact in Big Ben had been luck more than anything. If we were going to effectively track the goddess, we would need help. Annabeth wasn't exactly sure how we could get that help, but I remembered Lady Artemis's promise to listen for prayers from me. Using that seemed like a good idea to me.

"My Lady, we need help," I whispered, staring up at the pale moon. "We need some way to track Hecate; otherwise, we'll never catch up to her and stop her from doing this. I know you'll think of something to help us. Please help, My Lady."

"She'll help," Amber said behind me, and I turned to face the daughter of Hecate. "You're her lieutenant… _and_ her sister."

"That doesn't always mean anything in our world," I said, smiling sadly as I recalled everything that had led to the war and happened during it. "My Lady will help because she promised me she would, not because I'm her half-sister."

"Well, whatever the reason, she'll still help." I couldn't disagree with that, so I just turned back toward the moon. It made me think of the Hunters, and I wondered how they were doing without me. Were Kristen and Elaine fighting again? Had they found and killed any monsters lately? The moon made me miss them, but I knew I was needed here, so I pushed those thoughts away even as Nico left the boys' tent.

There was no time for thoughts like those, not with our quest.

…

After Annabeth had explained her theory and we ate breakfast, we broke camp and allowed Annabeth and Percy to lead the way toward a town we could see in the distance. It wasn't the same town as last night, so if we met a monster here as well, Annabeth's theory would be most likely true. Really, I couldn't blame her for having those thoughts. Every time we've arrived in a new place, we've found a monster. I just hoped she was wrong, because her theory isn't a nice one. Of course, I knew the luck of a half-blood, and it meant I gripped one of my hunting knives for most of the time we walked.

We eventually closed in on the town, and everyone grew more and more tense. Annabeth was also gripping her knife, and Amber's habit of twisting her ring around her finger picked up. Percy fiddled with Riptide in pen form, and Nico twitched while glancing at all the shadows around us, almost as if he was planning to disappear into one of them at a moment's notice, only to reappear in another.

Just like last night, the moment we entered the town, we heard signs of a monster nearby. However, unlike the hisses of the sphinx, I could hear a low growl, almost like a dog. Out of the shadows came a large, dark brown dog, growling at us with fierce, yellow eyes locked on our group. I could only frown as I attempted to place the monster, unsure of what it was. Then, Annabeth gasped, and I turned just enough to see her staring at it with wide eyes.

"It's Laelaps!" she said, frightened, and I understood why. Laelaps, the dog that always captured its prey no matter what, only to be sent after the Teumessian Fox, which was destined to never be caught. This led to my father turning them both into constellations, but it seemed Laelaps had been brought back just to fight us.

"First a cat, now a dog – what's next, a bird?" I muttered, pulling out my knives and crouching down.

"Who's Laelaps?" Percy asked, and I internally groaned at the fact that Percy still hadn't learned the lesser-known parts of so-called mythology. Annabeth explained what I already knew about Laelaps, and we all prepared for a fight.

"If Laelaps is always supposed to capture its prey, does that mean we can't kill it?" Amber asked nervously.

"It depends on what you think captured means," Annabeth said. "Technically, Laelaps has found us, so there's a good chance we'll be able to kill it."

"Technically," I grumbled to myself, too quietly for anyone to hear. That didn't actually mean we could kill this dog, though I suspected it was possible. What I wouldn't give for one of the wolves from the Hunt right now…

Laelaps charged toward us, and I jumped to the side, landing back in my crouched position, before leaping toward the dog, slashing out with my knives. Quickly, I jumped backwards, moving toward the side. In this situation, I knew speed would be key to success.

Laelaps attacked Nico, but the son of Hades was in a shadow and disappeared, only to reappear in the dog's own shadow, black sword flashing as he attacked the monster. Laelaps sensed Nico and dodged, but the sword still cut its flank, and Nico disappeared before he could be attacked again. In his place, Percy moved forward, Riptide lashing out, only to just barely miss the dog as it moved again.

When Laelaps' claws hit Percy's side in a counterattack, they bounced right off, leaving a few moments for Percy to cut open one of Laelaps' paws. Laelaps whimpered when its paw touched the ground, before it growled in fury at the wound, focusing entirely on Percy. Taking the opening, I ran forward with footsteps so quiet that even Lady Artemis would be hard-pressed to hear them. Bronze knives shone in the sun as I slashed a deep X on Laelaps' back before moving away. Slowly but surely, we were weakening Laelaps.

I heard Annabeth talking quietly to Amber off to my left while watching Percy try to hit the dog with Riptide. A few moments later, a thick net with holes just large enough for a knife to fit through covered Laelaps, with metal stakes holding it down. Percy pulled away from Laelaps just soon enough to prevent himself from cutting the net.

Recognizing Annabeth's idea, I moved forward quickly and began using my knives to stab legs, flanks, paws, and anything I could reach. Annabeth slid to the ground and began stabbing underneath Laelaps, and soon enough, the dog began to fall from blood-loss. It hit the ground, and Nico and Percy stepped forward to stab each flank, before Amber actually used her sword to cut off the head. Nico's sword absorbed the monster's essence, leaving nothing behind.

The purple glow around Amber's hand disappeared along with the net, and I realized that she couldn't create things out of nothing forever; they only lasted as long as she could power them. Everyone was panting after the fight, and as the adrenaline left me, I realized how tired I was. I probably wasn't as tired as Amber or Nico or even Percy, due to being part of the Hunt, but even I could feel exhaustion after the fight. However, we had to get moving, because we couldn't waste time.

"We need to move," I said, and the others sighed but began putting their weapons away.

"Do we even know where we need to go?" Percy asked.

"South," Amber whispered, and I turned to her. Blue eyes with a purple tint to them were almost glazed over, unfocused, like she wasn't looking at anyone. She faced south, and her hands were raised slightly in front of her, her ring glowing slightly. "We need to go south."

"How do you know?" Annabeth asked, but Amber didn't lose her unfocused look at the question. "Amber, how do you know where we need to go?"

"I just do," the daughter of Hecate said softly, her voice as far away as her gaze. Annabeth turned toward Percy before looking at me, and I just shrugged; I had no idea what was going on. "Trust me, this is where we need to go."

"Well, south it is," I said, and that broke Amber's trance. She blinked and shook her head, glancing around. Her ring had stopped glowing.

"Amber, do you know what just happened?" Nico asked, looking worried, and yet again I was reminded that I was surrounded by people who had feelings for one another.

"Not exactly…" she said. "It's just a feeling. We need to go south."

And that was that.

…

As the sun began to set, I found us another isolated area for the night. While there weren't really any trees around, I still found a spot with some rocks to protect us from the wind a little, and we set up the tents quickly. After eating dinner, it was decided we would take watches in shifts, and Percy had the first shift, followed by Annabeth, then me. I'd be awake just as the moon reached its highest point and shone brightest, a sight I always loved to see, especially after joining the Hunt.

Settling down in my sleeping bag in the girls' tent, I was asleep quickly. Of course, I hadn't expected to have a demigod dream, if it could be called that, when I fell asleep, but that was what happened.

I stood in the throne room of the gods. It was mostly empty, except for my father and Lady Artemis. Both of them looked as if they had just finished a conversation, and they turned to face me. It surprised me that they knew I was here almost immediately. In fact, it was as if they had been waiting for me.

"Thalia, you're here," Lady Artemis said, and I knelt before them. "Rise, you are not here to kneel to us today, sister."

"Why am I here, then?" I asked, standing again.

"You are making us both proud, Thalia, my daughter," my father said, and I just stared at him. His face seemed emotionless, as was normal, but for the second time in my life, I could see pride in his eyes. It reminded me of times when I was younger, before I was turned into a tree, when I would talk to Luke about the gods and our fathers. Back then it had always seemed like he didn't care, but now, after everything that had happened, seeing his face, I could tell he loved me in his own way but was unable to show it properly. He really was proud of me and what I had accomplished.

"Yes, you are a wonderful Hunter and the right replacement for Zoë as my lieutenant," Lady Artemis agreed. "However, you hold too much in your heart, sister."

"What do you mean?" I frowned, not understanding.

"The war," my father said.

"Your grief and your past," Lady Artemis added. "You hold it all within your heart, and it only hurts you."

"Thalia, you must learn to live with it, or you will fail in the end." I could only stare at my father as he said that. Fail in the end? How would I fail? Learn to live with it all? How could I do that?

"If you do not accept everything, you will fall so much sooner than you should," Lady Artemis elaborated. "We do not wish to see this. Do not allow your demons to beat you, Thalia. Overcome them, before they overcome you."

I shook a little at the thought of facing what Lady Artemis called my demons, especially because not even I was exactly certain what they consisted of, but I nodded. "I'll try, father, My Lady." I bowed my head.

"You will be waking up soon," my father said. "Continue to make us proud, Thalia."

"And know that a friend is coming to join you shortly," Lady Artemis said. I looked at her in surprise and confusion. Perhaps she meant her answer to my prayer this morning? I wasn't sure what friend could help us, but I would see.

Even as I reached that conclusion, the room around me began to fade, and soon it turned to black. I felt Annabeth shaking me awake, and I opened my eyes to find myself in the tent, gray eyes looking into my own as Annabeth leaned over me, waking me up for my watch. We didn't say a word as I slipped out of my sleeping bag and left the tent to sit on the blanket someone had laid out on the ground for the person on watch.

I couldn't help but think about the dream I had just had. Had that really been my father and Lady Artemis? It seemed like it to me. If it was, why were they telling me these things? It was confusing, and I decided to put the thoughts and dream aside for now. Eventually they would come up again, and hopefully I'd be better prepared at that point in time.

Instead, I looked around to check my surroundings before gazing up at the moon. It was just reaching the middle of the sky, and it glowed brightly, constellations shining around it. I could see the Hunter, Zoë's constellation, up there, and it made me smile sadly. If only we had gotten along before her death… She had said it well when she said we could have been sisters.

Zoë's constellation appeared to shine brighter, and then the moon did the same. Blinking, I realized they really _were_ shining more than usual, and looking at the ground in front of me, I saw moonlight bending. A form began to shape, and soon enough, a wolf stood before me, panting with its tongue hanging out from its jaw. Smiling, I recognized the wolf.

"Thank you, Lady Artemis," I whispered, gazing at the moon once more before scrambling to my feet and hurrying over to the wolf. It was a gray wolf that reached my hip in height, pale yellow eyes gazing up at me.

"Raevin," I said, rubbing her head. While all Hunters worked with all the wolves, we all eventually found one we got along with better than the rest. Raevin was that wolf for me, and she actually liked to work with both Lady Artemis and me best. From what I was told, Zoë had also been a favorite of Raevin's. It made sense that Lady Artemis would send Raevin to me, and now I knew what she meant by a friend coming. Raevin would most likely be able to sense Hecate, especially the closer we got to her actual location.

I brought Raevin with me back to the blanket and leaned against her flank as she lay down on the ground, both of us staring up at the sky while listening to our surroundings. When my watch was over, I woke Amber up for her watch before shaking Annabeth awake long enough to let her know Raevin was there so she wouldn't be surprised in the morning. Amber promised to let Nico and Percy know when she woke Nico for the final watch.

Raevin lay down next to me as I got into my sleeping bag, and I moved close enough that she warmed me up, and the heat lulled me to sleep, all thoughts of the dream pushed from my mind.


End file.
